


Burden of the Hourglass

by hmmaster



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, F/M, Jinchuuriki Fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-02
Updated: 2014-10-14
Packaged: 2018-01-14 07:23:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 89,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1257811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hmmaster/pseuds/hmmaster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After years of running from enemies and friends alike, Naruto goes where none can reach him: the past. His daunting mission is to save his fellow jinchuuriki and change the course of human history. With the addition of new skills to his old, can Naruto live a better life free of tragedy, or is pain engraved in the sands of time?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Turning Over an Old Leaf

Something warm dripped on his nose, and an acrid metallic smell filled his nostrils.  _Blood..._

Battle-honed instincts forced him to his feet, leaping off of his bed and reaching for a weapon that wasn't even there. His groggy eyes frantically searched his vicinity, trying to figure out why his sword wasn't already in his hands, swinging toward the neck of an enemy. His hands almost itched to feel the weapon rend flesh, and when he realized his hand was actually twitching, he gritted his teeth before gasping.

Panic steeped within him, the unfamiliar sights and smells around him grating on his nerves. His stomach lurched and only through his own good graces did he manage to make it to the waste bin in the corner. His vomit was pathetically watery, the smell of too many noodles reaching him. Part of him wanted to grin in the memory of his old habits, but the other part of him never wanted to taste ramen again.

When he was finished retching, he touched his forehead and realized that he wasn't actually bleeding. He ran his fingers through his hair and looked toward his bed; the smell had come from the orange paint dripping down from the wall. A look in the mirror revealed a patch of orange paint threatening to drip off his nose, and it took him several scrubs of warm water to finally get the stain off.

Naruto grimaced at the horrible paint job on the ceiling of the small apartment. It smelled of lead, and not even the open window made a difference. He figured some bastard merchant had given him lead-lined paint in the dashed hope it would kill him. The orange paint had dripped and ruined the floor and his other meager possessions. He frowned when he realized he couldn't actually remember that he  _had_ this many possessions; he'd been on the run for so long, it actually felt uncomfortable to be standing in a room that could be considered his.

Details flooded back to him when his sleep-addled mind finally resurfaced with clarity. He stretched his fingers and clutched them into a fist, wondering if the feeling of invading his own body would ever fade. The digits both were and weren't his own; he wondered if this was how Yamanaka ninjutsu felt all the time?

He cleared his lungs several times before getting dressed, a black t-shirt and gray shorts with his usual blue open-toed sandals. He pushed off of the balcony with his chakra, to jump toward the next roof, but he'd misjudged the difference.  _That's what I get for shrinking several feet,_ he realized as he grabbed onto the ledge before him, pulling himself back toward the roof. He'd have to learn to compensate, because going from the body of a middle-aged man to a six-year-old overnight had its challenges.

It didn't take long, and as Naruto jumped from building to building, his arms held out behind him in typical shinobi fashion, he tried to remind himself that there was no one chasing him. The people below weren't going to betray him; sure, he'd get awful looks and people would treat the child of the fox like worse than trash. But logically, he didn't have to watch his back around them yet. Every awful word or rejection that they could throw at him paled in comparison to the ninjutsu that would be flying his way in the future.

They were all the same though. They treated him as a scapegoat, a free target for aiming all of their hatred. Given the opportunity and a kunai, they'd slit his throat without a second thought. Could he really blame them? Probably not.

He could blame the system in place. He could blame Obito. He could blame Madara. He could blame Minato and Kushina.

He shook his head, stopping on the edge of a roof and sitting down, watching the park below him. If he focused, he could see a mop of pink hair running around with her father, playing childish games; the last time he had seen her, she had been pumping chakra into her sensei's body, trying to keep the frail old woman alive. Another kid was napping under a tree nearby, probably escaping the chores he hated so much while planning out thousands of ways to avoid them; Shikamaru was the second to last of his former classmates to die.

He wasn't jealous of them. He had long-since accepted the fact that he would never have a childhood; his own father and mother had taken that chance away from him. He chuckled lightly, realizing that he had a second chance to do it all over again, if he really wanted to. He could forget all about what  _could_  happen. Surely his presence in this timeline alone would change the outcome, if only minutely; small rocks dropped in a pond eventually make big waves. If he wanted to be selfish and lazy, "small rocks"  _could_ be enough to change everything.

 _But that's the point,_ he reminded himself. None of that would ever happen; the most trying years of his life would never come to pass. He'd never lose everyone he loved. He would do everything in his power to make sure that they survived, no matter the cost.

He stood up, stretching. He overlooked the city before him, realizing that there was a disconnect, a distance that separated him from it. Even if he knew any of them, like Sakura and Shikamaru, he didn't recognize them anymore. They were too far removed from his struggles. Not one of them would ever know what was coming until it was too late. And he just couldn't bring himself to care and tell them.

His head ached from understanding that this world's future was his past, but he pushed it away. His former life was his former life. He had a do-over, a chance to ensure that everything changed for the better. Naruto had a several step plan in mind, and he needed to begin implementing it as soon as possible.

* * *

The three members of the Detection Division were admittedly bored, and the current leader of the division inwardly repeated his almost daily mantra that he was important to the defense of the village and to its citizens. It was just an impossible job to not be incredibly exhausted of nothing of interest happening.

The leader chewed his nails, staring at the globule of liquid hovering in the room and casting everything in a slightly blue-green light. It was almost sad to admit that he did not truly know how the powerful sensory ninjutsu worked in connection to the great barrier surrounding the village; Mito Uzumaki had been a fuuinjutsu genius.

He was just about ready to fall asleep again, no amount of coffee or tea to keep him awake. But the sudden rupture in the chakra field shocked him out of his trance, and as quickly as it had come, it disappeared.

"Get me a status report!" he shouted to one of the others, who quickly printed the results from the printer in the corner. "Let me know what the hell that was!"

After a few moments of frantic activity, the flustered specialist had the report in her hand. "The foreign presence entered the village a moment ago near the west side of the North District. Readings indicate a similar reading to entering via space-time ninjutsu, but it matches none of the jutsu in our records. The barrier was breached only momentarily, and we are unable to track the intruder's chakra signature because the reading had none."

"Are you positive that there even  _is_  an intruder?" asked the leader to be safe.

The woman shook her head. "I'm afraid not, sir."

He shook his head in annoyance and frustration. "Alert the Hokage at once!"

* * *

Naruto pulled himself inward, awakening on the inside of an industrial basement, pipes running along the ceiling in both directions. An odd water dripped from them at strange intervals, but the floors were only filled with puddles, rather than the ankle-high pool he was used to. He knew that it was symbolic to the amount of chakra at his disposal, and that it would increase with time and use.

He remembered all of his training, all of his techniques and abilities. He even knew of ways to increase his abilities, he just had to adjust for them. His chakra network had gone virtually unused at this point of his life, because even though his mind was old, his body wasn't. He would train his weaknesses easily.

He followed the winding tunnels, heading toward the familiar ominous darkness. When the huge room opened to him, he grinned that it really had not changed. The incredibly tall cage door rose before him, and he had to admit that it was odd looking at everything from a different perspective, so much lower to the ground. He was starting to wonder if he'd ever get used to his lack of height and musculature. It would take years for him to return to that form.

At his presence, the walls of the room seemed to shift, displaying eight small square seals of black ink running around the length of the room, like portholes in the cargo bay of a large ship. If he looked into each of them, he could sense things from each of the seals, images and scents and sounds that weren't his own. It took him a second to remember what they were for, and it just showed the extreme and daunting task he had ahead of him.

The figure behind the cage was gigantic, its body shadowed by the darkness of the room. Only the tips of its snout and claws were visible, and the sight was still slightly intimidating to Naruto after all this time. The creature seemed to be asleep, judging from its rate of breathing, but he had his doubts.

"Kyuubi."

The fox did not move or react, but he was sure he could see one of the monster's tails flicker.

"Kyuubi. If I'm speaking, I expect to be listened to."

The creature suddenly lifted up and roared, its entire body preparing to pounce.  **"You insolent little ape! Who do you think you're addressing?"**

"You're the Kyuubi no Youko," Naruto explained simply. "A being made of pure chakra, descended from the Juubi, and the strongest of the nine. 'Your tails crumble mountains and cause tsunamis,' or so the legends go. I've done quite a bit more than that on a few occasions with you." Images of Bijuudama ran through his mind, destroying entire landscapes and destabilizing nations.

Another growl tore through the mindscape, to the echoing corners of his thoughts. But before it could say anything else, the boy interrupted. "I have to say, I expected that you'd come back with me. This certainly makes things more difficult."

The creature's anger was obvious, the kind of powerful rage that is only experienced after decades or centuries of unjust treatment.  **"What the hell are you talking about?"**

"I don't even know if I _should_  explain it to you," Naruto said, earning the creature's glare from one red eye. "But I guess I should practice explaining it to someone; I've gotta convince some people of the truth, and it would sound like total bullshit if I don't figure out the wording."

The claws grated against the floor, leaving long scratches that almost instantly repaired themselves, which only further angered it.

"My mind is from thirty years in the future," Naruto explained. "You don't need to know the details right now, but I've come back to change it. To stop that timeline from happening and to protect those who are burdened alongside me."

The fox regarded him for a few seconds before it genuinely laughed and snarled at the same time, something that only the Kyuubi could truly pull off.  **"Ridiculous and impossible! If you're playing one of your asinine pranks, you** _ **will**_ **wake up without entrails!"**

Naruto ignored the threat, not that it really was one. The fox was the one behind the cage, after all, and he was used to hearing far worse. "I used to think it was impossible. But now I'm here," he answered. "You obviously still won't believe me, and I'm fine with that. But you'll come to realize, through your sporadic visions of the outside world, that I did not wake up the same boy I was yesterday. You're going to see me practice things I shouldn't know how to do, without scrolls or prior training. You're going to see my behavior change, and you'll feel my maturity with every step I make. Kyuubi, can you really sit there and tell me that you don't notice anything different about me?" He gestured to the world around him. "Isn't the fact that I know how to enter the seal voluntarily enough to prove that something has changed?"

All he got in return was a growl, which he took as progress. The Kyuubi did not stop staring at him, teeth as long as his body glimmering in the darkness.

"Fine. You don't have to acknowledge me yet. I wouldn't expect you to suddenly accept me right away." Naruto grinned and crossed his arms. "I was hoping that I could get you to  _at least_  respect me, as you once did."

**"I would never respect you."**

"If you say so," he turned to walk away, ready to pull himself out of his mindscape, "Kurama."

The fox's entire body flared with anger, the mindscape began to tear itself apart from his ferocity. Naruto smirked and made a single ram seal, instantly repairing the space created by the seal, and the Bijuu responded with another enraged cry.

* * *

The market area of the village was buzzing in the early morning, not even an hour after dawn. It always was at that time of year, incredibly busy all the time. Naruto had watched this same place blown away by powerful, otherworldly ninjutsu, but they would never know that. It almost amazed him that they could fool themselves into believing they are safe and that nothing would ever happen to them. After all, the so-called "God of Shinobi" was protecting them.

He passed several shops that might have once been interesting. The merchants were trying to sell their wares to people of all kinds. A little girl, probably only a year or two into the Academy, bought a package of blunted shuriken from a small shinobi tool shop to add to her stores; it took him a second to realize that that was Tenten, but she didn't even notice him.

"Hey! Tenten!"

She paused, her panda-like hair buns looking somewhat ridiculous. She stared at him expectantly when he didn't say anything. "Who are you? And how do you know my name?" He was acutely aware of the merchant watching their interaction, probably terrified for Tenten's sake that she was communicating with him, the jinchuuriki.

"Naruto Uzumaki," he answered, already toying with the ideas in his mind on how he could take advantage of the situation. "And how could I not know about the Academy's up-and-coming weapons specialist? I have a question for you."

She looked at him a little differently, trying to analyze him with her eyes. Apparently, he didn't pass her evaluation. "Cut the crap, kid. I've got to get back to the Academy."

Naruto rolled his eyes at the use of the word 'kid'. "Yeah, sure. I understand that you're extremely busy. But I just need a moment of your time. I'll make it worth your while."

Tenten looked at him expectantly. "Fine. What do you want?"

He gestured for her to follow him, probably worrying the merchant even more. Any of the passersby knew all about avoiding the kid with the whiskers, and he was already making a scene among the adults.

As soon as he was several yards away, Naruto grinned at the girl in front of him. He raised his voice and gestured to the sign on the far end of the marketplace, lining vertically at the end to advertise the different shops on this street. "I bet you can't hit that from this distance, and I bet that I can."

She just laughed. "Yeah, right. Like I have to prove anything to a snot-nosed brat. Why don't you go home?"

"What? Are you scared you'll lose or something? Or are you scared you'll hit someone on the street with a stray shuriken? Surely the best weapons-specialist the Academy has seen in years would be able to handle a simple request like this."

The gleam in her brown eyes told him everything, and when she took out a few shuriken from her bag, she was already getting ready to throw. "What do I get when you lose?"

Naruto smiled. "Why don't you win and find out?" When he was sure he had her attention and consent to the bet, he pointed to the sign again. "You don't have to hit a specific point on the sign, because of how far away it is and all the people in the way. Try to do it quietly and quickly though; I don't want to attract attention." The last bit was an obvious lie, but he didn't need her to know that. "Let me show you how it's done first."

He took one of the shuriken from her hands, frustrating her slightly. In a single effortless moment, he stepped toward the wall immediately to his left and walked up it, standing parallel to the ground. He waved to her from the ground. "Before you say anything, this isn't cheating. I'm still at the same spot, just higher up."

Naruto knew she was really more upset about the fact that he knew the wall-climbing exercise a long time before she did, but when he launched the shuriken and pegged the sign, she stomped her feet in anger. "That's no fair!" She shouted. "I can't walk up walls!"

"Oh come on, you're at an obvious advantage over me. I'm just an untrained Academy kid," he said, dropping to the ground and watching the crowd watch him. Some of them were so terrified at seeing the display that they were nearly running away from him. "Surely you can still hit the sign, you just have to aim a little higher at the start and make a good arc."

When she finally nodded in fierce determination and anger, she took a stance. Naruto marveled at it, even from her age. It was a slightly augmented form of the Academy teachings on how to properly throw shuriken. Naruto was looking forward to seeing the seven-year-old do her thing, and he almost wanted her to succeed.

She waited a few more seconds, sticking out a tongue to analyze the wind, before finally throwing the shuriken in a lobbing arc. It spun in mid-air before angling downward again, and to Naruto's excitement and Tenten's frustration, it missed by several feet. The shuriken, however, shallowly-sliced into the back of the neck of the shinobi tools shopkeeper, the same man that she had bought shuriken from just a moment ago. It landed in the ground near a group of children, shocking them and their parents. Naruto was very briefly aware of a familiar face, one he hadn't seen in almost twenty years; Iruka Umino's horrified face.

"Oh no!" she shouted, and after a few seconds of silence, the market launched into a careful uproar when the shopkeeper marched towards the two of them in absolute fury, while covering the cut with one hand.

"You little twerps!" Naruto had to hope that none of the Konoha Military Police Force were nearby; he didn't want to mess with the Sharingan. The merchant ran over and tried to grab the two of them, but Naruto grabbed Tenten's wrist and pulled her away, running toward the other end of the street.

"Kid, what are you doing? I need to go back and apologize!"

When Naruto was sure he had the attention of every person on the street, the weapons dealer running after him, he formed a hand-seal and made the switch. A single shadow-clone switched places with him in a small puff of smoke.  **"Kawarimi no Jutsu (Substitution Technique)!"**

The cloud of smoke from the technique was enough to shock Tenten and the other dwellers, but the clone continued the charade and ran away, yelling and screaming as loudly as possible to get the attention of everyone. He heard the girl shout something about smoke pellets being illegal in public areas, but he just laughed at her immaturity.

Naruto watched the ordeal from around the corner and had to be proud of himself that the diversion worked. The real Naruto performed a quick Henge, transforming into a random merchant on the street, before rounding the corner and heading toward the shinobi tools shop. Of all the basic skills taught at the Academy, his ability to use the Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Technique) was unparalleled. His ability to infiltrate enemy camps was something he took pride in, and only the most skilled of the Hyuuga clan could see through his multi-layered transformations; a combination of a Henge and the distraction he'd created with a shadow-clone and Tenten would be foolproof even for Hiashi or Neji.

The shop was completely empty of patrons, and the bloody shopkeeper was still chasing Tenten and his clone. He quickly found the section of the store he was looking for. That wall was covered with swords of various lengths and types, some of them practical and some of them technical. Naruto grinned when he found something that he was used to, a tanto with a black sheathe and a midnight blue hilt. He grabbed some other assorted tools, like blank sealing paper, the finest kunai in the store, and steel shinobi wire.

Naruto hurried outside, blending into the crowd and dispelling his clone, and not a moment too soon; based on his clone's memories, he could see Fugaku Uchiha, the chief of the Konoha Military Police Force, running toward the scene. Naruto, in his near-perfect Henge, disappeared and walked away calmly.

He smiled at his genius and tried to ignore the fact that he was overextending his chakra coils, a bit of pain rising in his torso and abdomen from overuse. He figured it would take a few weeks of extensive training to really pull it back to the way it needs to be.

The chaotic marketplace was starting to calm down, but Naruto had to admire his handiwork. All he had to do was use an irate weapons' dealer who already had a grudge against the Kyuubi to take care of it, although he hadn't intended for him to actually be injured. He imagined that Tenten would blame it all on him, even if she didn't know who he was. He had to upgrade his time table now, and he was ready. He'd already had a large meal from Ichiraku Ramen, for old times' sake, but now it was time to leave.

* * *

Iruka visibly shook, unable to keep his hands from twitching.  _It's impossible!_

On particularly awful days filled with small reminders of the fact that he was an orphan, what little he could remember before his parents' deaths seemed to run through his mind again and again. He always pictured the face of the fox itself as the culprit, smashing buildings with its tails and eventually killing his parents brutally and without remorse. The blame was easy there because the monster was responsible for what it had done!

When Iruka witnessed the boy walk on walls and use an actual jutsu, a kinjutsu no less, his mental image of the culprit shifted to feature the boy instead. Maybe it was irrational to expect a six year old to be capable of that kind of devastation, but the monster inside the boy was primordial evil incarnate! Even holy men agreed to that, and it gave Iruka a small comfort that the priests and monks collectively believed that the gods would intervene and save them all from the demons that plague the earth. He'd never put much faith in deities, but rather the Sandaime Hokage who was considered a "God of Shinobi" himself; he had never failed them before, and why would he start now?

When he arrived at the Hokage's office, the door was already open. He explained his situation to the attendant outside the door and was allowed inside, where Hayate Gekko and Mizuki Toji were already gathered. He bowed to the village's leader.

"Hokage-sama, I have something to contribute!" Iruka had to wonder what it sounded like for him to be so eager to give information to the Hokage; he wondered if the man still viewed him as the genin he used to be, because he had not been a chunin for more than a few weeks.

"Iruka-san! Unless it is urgent, perhaps you should wait?" The old man's voice sounded weathered and almost exhausted. Mizuki frowned at him and Hayate remained neutral; they probably thought it wasn't something important, but Iruka knew it was extremely important.

"No, this has to do with what occurred in the market district," explained Iruka. "Naruto Uzumaki was behind all of it."

The Uchiha nodded, moving his dark hair out of his eyes. "I know he created a ruckus, but are you suggesting that he stole from the shop as well? He couldn't have done that. The young Academy student who was part of what we assumed was just another of Uzumaki's pranks gone awry said he was there the whole time with her."

"No, you don't understand," explained Iruka. "My sensor skills are nowhere near as precise as your own Sharingan, Fugaku-san, because I only use it in quick bursts, but I distinctly saw him walking on walls and using the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

The tension in the room was palpable, and even the assembled chunin understood the true implications of this. The Hokage's face was pale and it looked like he had started to sweat. "It... it can't be true. He's only six! There's no way that he has any formal training. And who could have taught him a kinjutsu, much less the ability to use chakra itself?"

"Maybe the demon taught it to him," Mizuki said, his face all too serious.

Fugaku closed his mouth and swallowed. "Hokage-sama, what implications do you think this has for the earlier intrusion? Is an outsider somehow controlling the boy? Forcing him to do his bidding?"

When an ANBU Black Ops member suddenly appeared, who was not in the Hokage's normal guard force, almost everyone jumped. Only the Hokage remained perfectly still, and Iruka had to calm himself down from the sudden rush of adrenaline. Having someone appear that close behind you was never an easy task.

"Hokage-sama, someone unauthorized just left the village, but the guards were unable to decipher who it was. They apparently used a combination of the Kawarimi no Jutsu, the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, and a multi-layered Henge disguise that a Byakugan of the Hyuuga stationed outside the gates was unable to decipher in time. It's suspected that it could be related to the security leak from earlier." Iruka's eyes widened in shock, catching Mizuki's eye.

The leader of the village sighed outwardly. "I'm getting too old for all of this." He hurriedly pulled something from his desk, revealing a crystal ball that could focus on any place in the village that the Hokage willed. Iruka thought it was fitting of his title that the man could watch over all of his people from the shadows. It took only a few moments for him to confirm what everyone was thinking.

The Hokage turned to the three chunin, Hayate in particular. "Go bring him back. If you leave immediately, he will not get very far."

Fugaku cleared his throat before they could leave. "Hokage-sama, should we not send more capable people? This is the jinchuuriki of the village at risk here, and if he  _is_  under the control of someone else, then perhaps a Sharingan can break that control."

The Hokage shook his head, surprising Iruka. Sending one of the Uchiha would be very helpful, and Iruka himself could use the help. "No, I'm afraid that can't happen. Chunin will be enough to take care of an untrained six-year-old, and Hayate-san is going to be promoted to Tokubetsu Jonin very soon. He's one of our brightest up-and-comers. You three need to leave now; if we can afford to spend the manpower, we will send another squad for backup." The seventeen-year-old grew flustered at the praise, before the three of them nodded and headed out immediately.

"Can you track him?" asked Hayate when they finally left the Hokage Tower and sprinted toward the gate.

"Maybe. My jutsu works like chakra echolocation, but in infrequent bursts. We'll have to figure out a way to follow his trail and catch up to him," explained Iruka, before turning to the de facto squad leader. "You're really going to be promoted?"

"That's the first I've heard of it. Must be why I was summoned to the Hokage's office," explained Hayate, pulling ahead of the rest of them. "Don't get left behind."

"Ooh, maybe that's why I was summoned as well! Tokubetsu Jonin... I like it!" Mizuki grinned. Hayate just stared ahead and didn't engage, and Iruka knew what he was thinking. Mizuki didn't deserve a promotion, so it would have to have been something else.

Nevertheless, Mizuki was oblivious. "Don't worry, Gekko, I wouldn't dream of getting left behind! Let's find the fox!"

"He's  _not_  the fox," Hayate argued, his level voice tempered with a passion Iruka didn't think he had ever heard from him before. "He's a person, just like you and me. The Kyuubi is sealed away inside him."

Mizuki shrugged as the gate appeared in front of them, jumping toward the next building. "Same difference."

Iruka stared at the two of them, surprised at their individual thoughts of the fox and the boy. The white-haired chunin seemed much closer to his own beliefs, but it seemed harsh to act like he  _was_ the Kyuubi. And yet, Iruka couldn't see the clear separation between the two like Hayate did. Was Naruto the reincarnation of the demon itself, or was he just a boy with unfair circumstances?

* * *

Naruto was currently using wind chakra to put his tanto in top condition after using it to kill a rather large boar; he'd be eating off of roasted boar for several meals, but he was careful to only use slightly more than small embers while cooking it. More likely than not, the Sandaime Hokage had noticed his absence and would look for any possible way to find him. They couldn't lose their precious weapon after all.

He was heading northwest, and by all rights, he was making good time. He had a range of a few weeks to get the first step of his plan out of the way, but he needed to get to his destination in a very timely manner. At his top speed, he could probably get there in three to five days, depending on how well his body's endurance really was.

Naruto estimated that within another day, he'd pass the border of Hi no Kuni. And he was glad for it; being in foreign lands not directly associated with his background would help him blend in because they wouldn't know his face. His plan involved infiltrating shinobi villages after all, and anonymity was key.

His age served that purpose extremely well. He was just a kid and far below the age where they would expect him to be a spy or even a shinobi. He was virtually indifferent when he thought about certain people in Konohagakure who didn't mind creating soldiers that young, as long as it fit a certain purpose for the general good.

Naruto couldn't stand that term, however. The "general good." There was no such thing; he'd never seen it in his first life, and he would never see it in his second. It was a universal constant that humanity did not know its own common agendas, so he had given up on trying to understand that. Jiraiya had been naive, and in some ways, Nagato had been right. The methods he used were wrong, but could Naruto really judge them when the same people Pain attacked eventually attacked others? Others that were close to him, that shared his burden and were just as unjustly thrown into a political system they shouldn't have to be a part of?

There was no point in trying to keep a moral high ground. Naruto was the same as everyone else, and he had no expectation to change himself to be better than other people. He would only judge others who negatively impacted the lives of his friends, and they would get to taste their own blood in their throat for doing it.

He looked up and closed his eyes, reliving the memory of a recently dispelled clone. The clone had witnessed a three-man squad of chunin heading his way, made up of Mizuki Toji, Hayate Gekko, and Iruka Umino. He had instructed his clones to dispel when they caught glimpse of a pursuer, and it seemed that Iruka had spotted him somehow. It took him a moment to remember that Iruka had been a sensor-type shinobi before becoming a full-time Academy instructor, so it made sense that he would be able to find him.

His heart ached at the thought of Iruka being one of the pursuing him. He dreaded the idea of fighting him, because even if he hated most of the people in that village, Iruka had never been on that list and he never would.

* * *

Iruka created a ram seal and pulsed his chakra again, trying to decipher the location of any more clones. The quick "sixth sense" faded as soon as it started, but he confirmed that there were no more around them. "I've got nothing; trail goes cold here. If we're lucky, we'll find him before nightfall. Maybe we can defeat whoever's controlling him and bring him back."

Hayate continued to look at several possible clues, but Mizuki balked.

"Yeah, right. Let's just call a spade a spade here. There's no one controlling him but the demonic fox itself," Mizuki argued.

"Does it matter?" Gekko asked, lining up his sight to a possible trail. "What both of you are saying is irrelevant until we know more. Now, we need to go that way." He pointed in a northwest direction. "Trail lines up that way and is the same kind of footprint we tracked before. Umino, you got another-?"

Iruka nodded and pulsed his chakra again, and just in time too. In that bit of extra sight, he saw Mizuki trip over the shinobi trip-line. "Down! Now!" Iruka hurled a kunai to try to divert the explosive tag attached to a kunai heading for them. It clanged against Iruka's projectile, but it felt far too close to Iruka's left side and immediately exploded. The chunin flew, literally, into a tree branch that shattered from the force of the shock-wave. He barely fought for consciousness before slipping into the blackness of pain and misery.

* * *

Naruto winced at the thought of Iruka getting hurt by the trap he had set, but it was necessary. He and his group of clones converged on the site, and this was the perfect way to send a message to the Hokage.

When he finally arrived, he and the clones hid just outside of their ability to detect, and for what it's worth, Hayate and Mizuki were busy trying to make sure Iruka was going to be all right. Hayate ordered the other chunin to watch over Iruka, before the man drew his sword and gestured to the edge of the clearing.

"Come out. I know you're there." Naruto had to appreciate the man's directness.

The blonde jumped out of the tree and landed in front of Hayate. "Yep, here I am."

"What is going on? Why are you deserting the village?"

He smiled. "The people of that village deserted me a long time ago. I don't want to live under the thumb of the Sandaime Hokage and the Council of Elders anymore."

Hayate pondered it for a moment. "Explain to me what's happening, Uzumaki. If you come back with us, everything can be forgiven."

"I'm leaving," he answered automatically. "That's the simplest truth I can offer. If you don't want to accept it, that's your prerogative. But just know that this will be over very quickly, and I'm sure you want to return home to see Yugao again, don't you?"

Naruto had barely known the purple-haired future ANBU member, but he did remember that she had been an important person in Hayate's life. As expected, Hayate's grip on his sword tightened in anger.

Mizuki laughed, hands itching to grab the giant shuriken on his back. "This is just rich. A six-year-old threatening us? You haven't even joined the Academy! Whatever jutsu you think you know how to use, it's all a fluke!" The chunin pointed to himself and the other two. "We are _real_  shinobi, and we will fight with deadly force to defeat you!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Really? Deadly force? I highly doubt that. The balance of power among the nations is too strict, and I wonder how fast the Council would call for your execution if you actually did manage to kill me. Hell, the Hokage would probably publicly endorse the decision so he doesn't get the nobles on his back. I'm too important for your deadly force."

Realization hit Hayate's eyes. "He knows?"

"Of course I do. How hard do you really think it is to hear the whispering behind your back? My birthday is the Memorial Day of the attack on the village, for crying out loud." The lying was thick, but Naruto was enjoying this a bit too much. Seeing Mizuki's shock was ironic in an almost hilarious way. "I _am_  the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, and I'm going to leave here regardless of whether you try to fight me or not." To emphasize his point, the clones saw that as their signal and descended on the clearing. There had to be twenty of them surrounding the chunin. "The choice is in your hands."

Naruto watched the shock and fear creep into the two lucid chunin, and when Hayate lowered his sword as if to give up, Mizuki grabbed the weapon off of his back and immediately prepared to throw it. "Die, fox!"

"Mizuki!" Hayate yelled as a warning, but it was too late. The second the shuriken left his hands, spinning toward what he thought was the main Naruto, it collided with the body and immediately dispelled.

The white-haired chunin caught the shuriken as it returned to him, still upset that it had been a shadow-clone. But in the next instant, the clearing burst into chaos. Clones drew their tantos and began expertly wielding them, mimicking Naruto's own style he had perfected a long time ago. Mizuki backtracked and tried to avoid their strikes, using the shuriken like a shield to deflect blows and swinging it to dish out his own. He had managed to dispel two clones before three suddenly jumped on him at the same time, all shouting taunts to confuse him.

The real Naruto dashed toward Hayate, remembering hearing of his skills during the Chunin Exams. It had taken the kenjutsu specialist only a few moments to catch onto Naruto's style, parrying and taking on several opponents at once. He dispelled two clones and then made a hand-seal of his own.  **"Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone Technique)!"**

Two illusory copies appeared, and immediately moved into an almost mystifying display of speed that created after-images of chakra.  **"Mikazuki no Mai (Dance of the Crescent Moon)!"** Naruto recognized it as a precursor to the kenjutsu form that Hayate was famous for inventing. Naruto was able to follow the movements, however, to Gekko's surprise, parrying blows and breaking the illusions with a stab through the chest and a sweeping kick.

"You should really develop that further," the blonde said as they collided and locked blades, pushing off of each other. Naruto hated the fact that his height was a disadvantage here, but he'd never been a particularly tall guy. "Maybe use shadow clones instead of illusions? It's a fascinating technique though, but it could be a lot better." To accentuate his point, three clones suddenly converged on the chunin in coordinated strikes.

Naruto's opponent leaped into the air and managed to avoid the clones, and to confuse him, Naruto dispelled all three of them the moment they came close to each other, creating a cloud of smoke. When Hayate landed, the blonde burst through the smoke with a speed he had yet to test, holding his weapon with his right arm across his body for speed.

In a single horizontal slash, accentuated by accelerated chakra flow in Naruto's muscles, Gekko blocked the blow but was forced to the ground from the power behind it. He heard an oddly satisfying scream and turned to see that there was a blade in Mizuki's chest, probably slipping through a rib and destroying a lung. The clone holding it grit his teeth and channeled wind chakra through it, and even Naruto was slightly surprised by the brutality of that move. With the clone's memories, the blonde knew he would never forget the upward motion that nearly tore Mizuki's body in half with wind chakra, exiting his right shoulder.

Hayate stared in terrified awe as all the clones in the area dissipated. Mizuki's lifeless body fell to the ground, and Naruto turned to Hayate. It would be relatively easy to finish him off, with the usually calm and collected chunin completely horrified.

"Tell the Hokage that I'm done playing his game. Bring Iruka and the corpse home and don't come after me. I assure you that I'm not under the control of anyone else, and you should believe me because I'm sparing your life." He walked toward Hayate and practically dared him to attack, before leaning down and looking him straight in the eye. Naruto mentally concentrated on the second source of chakra, the Kyuubi, and for a single instant, the whisker marks thickened and his eyes changed into the red slits of the fox. Hayate balked at the sight of it, physically trying to move away. "Try to enjoy yourself, Hayate." He pointed to Mizuki's dead body. "You never know how much time you have left."

Naruto let the fox fade from his chakra network and then disappeared in a Shunshin, fast enough that they would not know which direction he had gone.

* * *

Hiruzen Sarutobi slammed his fist on the table in frustration, the wizened lines on his face growing deeper and his sunken eyes looking darker. After a single event, he could no longer ensure the safety of the village and it terrified him. He had to get Naruto back.

He'd been in the office all day, non-stop and trying to work through the dilemma in the best way that he could. He received several visits from Fugaku and his men, who did a wide sweep of the village's security and confirmed that no one had physically entered the village and took control of Naruto. After learning that, he'd called for Inoichi Yamanaka about a possible mental intrusion of sorts, which was actually possible.

"So you can't confirm that's what happened?" the Hokage had asked.

"No. However, it does match up to what the Detection Division of the Barrier Corps found," the blonde man had explained. "But I know of no mental ninjutsu, foreign or domestic, that are so instantaneous that the intruding mind would only be detected for a split-second. The range and speed would be too much for the human mind to comprehend, and the barrier should have picked up a chakra signature for a person."

The Hokage had not ruled it out completely, because none of this added up. No other possibilities were ringing a bell, so if this was a mental ninjutsu, it would have to be a brand new one performed by a very strong someone outside of the walls of the village.

The political implications for this were far-reaching, but he was confident that the chunin would return with him in tow and they could sort out whatever had happened to Naruto.

"Hokage-sama!" A familiar ANBU member with flowing dark purple hair behind a feline mask suddenly appeared in the room; he recognized her as Yugao Uzuki, newly-promoted. "The chunin squad sent after the jinchuuriki have returned. Iruka Umino had to be admitted into the hospital for severe injuries, and Hayate is shaken up and I couldn't get him to leave Iruka's side. Mizuki Toji is dead." Her voice sounded uneven.

The Hokage stood up, prepared to head to the hospital immediately. He gulped, fingers clenching into a fist over the death of one of their own. "And Naruto?"

"Gone, sir. He left no visible trail to follow."

He wanted to shout in anger but suppressed the urge, before turning to the commander of his own guard force. "I want all available men to scout the bordering nations for any trace of the jinch- no, Naruto Uzumaki. Use whatever means necessary."

The man nodded and disappeared. Hiruzen was prepared to make a visit to the hospital, but when the black-haired old man appeared, half of his face covered with bandages, he stopped. "Danzo-san. Can this wait?"

"I'm afraid that the safety and security of our village cannot wait." He practically spat the words at the man. "This is disastrous. If something is not done immediately, there  _will_  be international repercussions!"

Hiruzen wanted to hit the man for speaking to him with such disrespect. "Of course, I am aware of this! I am doing everything in my power to ensure the well-being of Konohagakure. Now, I have to go."

The Hokage hurried out the door as fast as his old legs would take him, leaving Danzo Shimura outside the door to the office, staring inside with his one good eye.

* * *

The first thing he was aware of was the comfort of a mattress and pillows, and then the sharp pain on his entire left side. He couldn't quite open his eyes, but as he moved to touch his face, he learned that he couldn't move his left arm and that his whole head was covered in bandages, with only the eyes uncovered.

"He's awake," a familiar voice cut through his groggy, sleeping fog. He opened his eyes and tried to crane his neck, but couldn't do it without stretching the charred skin, and he cried out in pain. "Are you all right?"

The room spun into view, the dizziness making him want to vomit and then scream again.

"I guess that's a no. Nurse!"

He vaguely looked around the room, moving his head as little as possible. Standing over him was Hayate, and everything suddenly came back to him.

He had lost consciousness for a few moments after deflecting the explosive tag. He only had flashes after that point, but the grisly scene of a six-year-old boy cutting a man nearly in half forced his stomach to churn. The sweat and hysteria suddenly all hit him at the same time, and everything was just wrong for a few moments.

Flashes of his mother, his father, the giant fox towering over the village. A tail destroying their home, his school, a giant clawed fist raking through the hospital. Naruto's smirking grin, animalistic eyes as red as blood, fingernails itching into claws.

He was vaguely aware of a shinobi nurse running into the room and saying, "...panic attack!" before he started seizing. The pain was incredibly excruciating.

"Can't you do something?!" Hayate screamed at the nurse. In the next few moments, a needle injected into his neck, and the first image that came to mind was Naruto biting through his trachea with vicious teeth.

It took several minutes and several male nurses holding him down to finally catch on, but the combination of drugs was keeping him numb, but conscious.

"What h-happened? After Mizuki," he vaguely asked, his voice slurring. The head nurse stayed behind to watch over him, and Hayate stood over the bed, distantly and absently.

Hayate shook his head, swallowing hard. "I don't want to talk about it yet. I'm lucky to be alive, you're lucky to be alive, and that's all that matters."

He tried to move his arm again to give a small thumb-up in agreement, but once again, his arm wouldn't move. He used his right arm to check it out, and it was still there, just completely limp and numb.

The nurse seemed to notice and walked over. "There was nerve damage, Iruka, in your left shoulder. We were able to save your arm, but you've lost ninety-five percent of all feeling."

"Amputate it," he muttered, a stray tear running down his right eye. He ignored it and tried not to think about the pain and the trauma he was going to go through.

Hayate cleared his throat. "Are you sure? Maybe we could call in a better medic, or a specialist for you." The nurse looked like she was going to argue against that but thought better of it.

"Maybe. Pr-probably not."

"We'll schedule it for after you've recovered well enough to go into another major surgery," explained the nurse sadly, and Iruka agreed with a thumbs-up from his good arm.

The door opened to reveal the Sandaime Hokage himself, and it took all of Iruka's willpower not to try to bow to him, even if he could. It made Iruka slightly proud that the man would come this far to check on him, even if it was really to get the whole story from Hayate.

"Oh, Iruka-san. Are you all right?"

Iruka swallowed, his words a little bit clearer despite the sedative running through his veins. He forced himself not to think about the Kyuubi or about Naruto. "I'm okay, Hokage-sama. Just disappointed."

The man shook his head. "No, there's no reason to be disappointed! From what I hear, you saved Hayate and gave Mizuki a few more minutes. You should be proud."

The words hit Iruka hard, but the chunin eventually disagreed. "No. Not about that. I can't be a shinobi anymore. It's what gave my life meaning; I was able to contribute to the well-being of others." He closed his eyes. "I was able to help other kids from becoming orphans. It's all I've ever wanted to do."

The man paced for a second, looking out the window at the night sky. "You need to come up with another goal, son. Something new to live for."

"What?"

"I don't know," the man said truthfully. "I don't always have all the answers, Iruka. I'm facing that kind of situation right now, and I just don't know. We have to figure this out for ourselves."

Hayate had a thoughtful look on his face before he finally looked up in surprise. "Iruka, you're always telling the rest of us how to do something, reminding us to go back to our basics and look for new ways of thinking or interpreting. You're a bookworm and you really appreciate learning new things. You don't even use kenjutsu, and you helped me figure out my style to use when teaching Yugao!" The man was as excited as he had ever seen him. "You can teach at the Academy! Not having an arm won't affect that."

The village leader smiled. "He's right. I think it's an excellent idea. The future generations would be in good hands. Even if you'll only have one."

Iruka laughed, and it truly felt good to laugh about it. "I'll have to think about it. I don't know if I'll even be worth it; the kids will look down on me, and they'll know I lost my arm on one of my  _first_ missions as a chunin."

The Hokage shook his head, but ultimately grinned. "It's your decision, of course. But I think teaching would be a good fit for you, and I hope you'll consider it." He cleared his throat. "I also want to apologize for my arrogance. Fugaku Uchiha was right, and that was a mistake that cost you the life of a friend and a chance at the future that you wanted, Iruka."

The two of them agreed, but Hayate answered for the two of them. "We forgive you. This is part of the job; you couldn't have known what to expect. For all intents and purposes, you weren't wrong with the information that you had; he's only six, it should have been enough."

The Hokage looked down for a minute before stroking his chin. "I still think things could have gone much differently if there had been another person there, or another team sent close behind you."

"What's done is done," Iruka finally said. "You can't go back and change it now." The other two laughed at the insinuation, but it was still true.

There was a moment of hesitation before the older man shooed the nurse from the room. "Now. I want details. Any details you two can provide. The medical examination team is performing an autopsy on Mizuki's body in case it holds anything worthy of note. But I need you two to tell me everything you know about Naruto Uzumaki." Hayate flinched at the sudden use of the name, and Iruka wondered if the other chunin still felt that clear line of separation between Bijuu and human.


	2. Isolation Destination

The moment that he had crossed the border into Kaze no Kuni, relief had flooded his system. Any Konoha ANBU trying to find him would have to be approved by Sunagakure due to the alliance treaty; if the Hokage declared an emergency, he could circumvent that restriction, but Naruto was the weapon. It would be a closely-guarded secret that he had left the village, and he wouldn't be surprised if the Hokage ordered some of his trusted confidants to portray him performing pranks in the village, so no one would notice his disappearance. Hiruzen wouldn't want even their allies to know the village was in danger.

Any potential spies in the village wouldn't know he was gone, and simple genin like Kabuto would never be allowed that information; the fucking snake's spy had been a thorn in his side for far too long. Naruto frowned and regretted not getting rid of him while he could. But it would have taken too long to locate him, especially if he was with Root or out of the village. His current plans were too time sensitive for that.

But yes, keeping his absence secret was the best course of action for the stability of the village, because Kumo and Iwa would jump at the possibility of trying to assert their dominance. Naruto didn't want war to begin. His biggest fear was what Danzo would do with this information, and he'd been thinking about that for a long time. There was no chance that Danzo wouldn't know about his departure, and from everything he knew, the man had gone to war for less. Despite that, Danzo only went to that extreme when he was sure the village and Hi no Kuni would end in a better position than when they started. Would they if Kumogakure or Iwagakure attacked?

The desert had finally begun, rolling hills of sand for miles. Sunagakure was a relatively small village that stuck out like a sore thumb due to its structure and location, but getting near that location was the difficult part. Without a guide, he couldn't be one hundred percent sure which direction was north. He just had to hope he was still going in a general westerly direction; worse came to worst, he'd hit the mountains of Tsuchi no Kuni a few days from now and have to double back.

When he came upon a town, a small settlement of huts constructed from mostly imported lumber, he grinned. It centered around a far-too small oasis, but the giant space in the center of town suggested that the natural underground spring had gotten smaller and smaller over the years. The people wore thick white or beige cloth over their heads and shoulders, to protect from the heat and sunlight. Naruto's own black shirt was soaked with sweat, and he could really take a number from them.

This civilian settlement probably traded with the major village; in fact, it was probably dependent on it and the capital of Kaze no Kuni, much farther to the west of Suna. It would _have_  to have some basic information about where to go from here to get to Suna, so he planned ahead. Pulling into one of his classic strategies, he crouched behind a dune and made a single shadow-clone, and then transformed it into a clothed version of the Harem no Jutsu's female version of himself. He even kept the whisker marks because it made them look genetically similar and boosted the chance of anyone believing that it was his sister.

"Who goes there?" asked a guard who looked to be a civilian soldier if he had to guess, based on the stance and the spear he held in his hand; young and completely untrained, he got the impression that the population was too small for any kind of standing military force. The armor was stocky and far too bulky, and nothing like a shinobi's usual wear.

The clone knew his ploy, immediately falling into the act. "Sir, can you please direct us to some shelter? My little brother and I... we're struggling out here."

Naruto acted oblivious to the struggles, grinning wildly. "We're going to visit family in Sunagakure, soldier-san!"

The teenaged sister chuckled at his antics. "Daichi is right, sir. My name is Aime, and we are from a border village to the south. But we received word that our uncle has contracted an illness in Suna, and we just don't know the way." The clone was playing the 'terrified, struggling female' role very well. "We haven't eaten in almost a full day, and maybe you can give us a place to stay."

The little brother frowned. "Soldier-san, I'm scared I'm not going to get to see our uncle again."

"Where are your parents, kids?"  _The king is in check,_  Naruto thought.

The clone in disguise as Aime looked down suddenly, but the real Naruto pretended to be oblivious; all part of Naruto's plan. "We only have each other. It's one of the reasons why we were so willing to travel alone through the desert; we're desperate! Our uncle Tsubasa has the same disease that took away our mother, only weeks after Daichi was born."

The spear-wielding soldier nodded, gesturing toward the inside of the settlement.  _Checkmate._  "Okay. It's fine. If you go to that building," he pointed to the slightly larger and more ornate building directly across from them, on the other side of the small public square, "you can get some food and rest for a bit. There's a caravan from Sunagakure leaving at noon to head back to Sunagakure; in fact, there's a Suna jonin assigned to protect it."

Naruto thanked him and went over his course of action. He only had a little under an hour to join the caravan. This could definitely play to his advantage, because if the caravan was attacked, he would be able to get on good terms with the Suna shinobi, whomever it was. If he kept up the charade of the orphaned siblings, he might even be welcomed into the village out of compassion or pity.

He was initially shocked to imagine that it was a jonin of all people guarding the shipment. Why not a chunin, or even a squad of genin? He needed to know why this caravan was that important.

The building he was directed to was an inn with a bar on the ground level. If he had to guess, this was the largest building in the town and it was probably funded because it was the only place with alcohol. Aime and Daichi walked up to the bar and attracted the attention of a few people. Naruto was keenly aware of the Suna shinobi in the corner of the bar, enjoying himself and yet looking like he didn't trust anyone around him.

"Why are you so worked up, shinobi-san?" Daichi said in the highest voice possible, a genuine look on his face. Was this man worried about people around him targeting him and the caravan? His clone turned to him.

"Nothing, little one." The shinobi turned to him and Naruto's eyes widened. He couldn't help it; it just happened. The man's face was as clear to him as it had ever been. He wore his headband over his head like a bandana, the angular shape of his jaw and the dark-haired goatee. Naruto gulped and looked away.

It was the first man he had ever killed, and even if he had killed many since then, he would never forget the first. His nightmares were often inhabited by the last few seconds of Yura's life, using the Odama Rasengan to destroy the decoy Itachi Uchiha. He frowned at the irony; the last time he interacted with Yura, he had been rushing to Sunagakure to save Gaara. Was this evidence of history repeating itself?

At the time, he had had to soldier on and pretend it hadn't happened. He had almost lost Gaara the first time, and that wasn't going to happen again. And of course, Yura had actually been a "puppet" of sorts of Sasori, under his mental control.  _Has Sasori gotten to him already?_

Naruto tried to analyze any features on his face that could reveal that secret, but the man was too stoic to understand. He had no idea if Yura was a pawn of the Akatsuki yet or not, and that uncertainty was potentially explosive to any of his future plans. If Obito and Nagato learned that the jinchuuriki was being lifted from the village, he would be seriously screwed.

The clone gave him a grin before explaining the cover story; Yura's face didn't seem to interact with the knowledge, but Naruto thought he could see a concerning gleam in his eye. "And see, we were hoping that you would allow us to come with you and the caravan, back to Sunagakure."

Yura shook his head, taking another drink. "No, I don't think that would be a good idea. The village is under a lot of stress, and outsiders are a liability. I have a duty to protect it." Naruto was genuinely curious as to what stress they could be under, but maybe it was just a ruse to cover up xenophobic tendencies. The village was isolated and the people of Kaze no Kuni were very loyal to each other and no one else.

"But sir, Tsubasa is sick!" Naruto gave the best impression of innocence that he could. "I really miss him."

"Our uncle has money, shinobi-san! I'm sure he would pay generously to see you bring his family to him."

"Yeah, it'll be like an awesome Z-ranked mission!" Naruto gave a toothy grin.

After a moment, Yura cracked his shell and chuckled. "There's no such thing as a Z-ranked mission, Daichi-chan. But I guess I could be generous. Why don't you get some food while I talk to the head of the group?"

Naruto pouted, rubbing his stomach. "But sir, we don't have any money."

Yura shook his head, sighing. "Fine." He gave some to the sister-clone and then left the room. Naruto wasn't going to let that go to waste, so he did order some food. It was surprisingly good, but there was still sand in his teeth from traveling and he wondered if there was even sand in the food. He wouldn't be surprised.

Within the next hour or so, Naruto was headed toward Suna, trapped in his Henge disguise and not able to train during the trip. He wondered if the lie would fall apart if it looked like he was trained, but decided against testing Yura's gullibility.

The caravan, a collection of linen covered carts pulled by camels and manned by merchants and tax collectors, had been delivering a shipment of crops and other essentials to the small town, and after conversing with the merchants, it seemed that that town had been their last stop on a series of shipments.

Most of his time was spent reflecting on the status of his mission so far, which had yet to bear fruit. There were eight other jinchuuriki, scattered across the continent, and at least he knew where they all were and what they were doing, to varying degrees. But it was still going to be one of the most difficult challenges he would ever face, trying to travel across the country and convincing them to come with him and leave their lives behind.

He had a window of a few years to complete it. As far as he knew, the Akatsuki did not start seeking the jinchuuriki until around the time when Kisame and Itachi waltzed into the village demanding to capture him. The Yondaime Mizukage Yagura was the only variable that he couldn't quite identify, but he'd cross that bridge when he came to it. That meant five years, give or take. He gulped at the implication that his journey to the past would have made that number obsolete. Yura was definitely a problem, and truly the first challenge he had to face as a time traveler. If Sasori had gotten to him already, would the two unassuming siblings heading toward the village be the kind of information he would share?

His "sister" sat next to him and made ample conversation to make it look natural and not give it away. Naruto was always astounded by the idea that his clones could really act well independently of his own guidance. They had practiced this kind of deception before, so maybe it was all memory. But as far as he had noticed, there were no holes in his clone's story. Aime and Daichi may as well be real people to the traveling merchants.

"I'm going to take a nap up top," Naruto said suddenly, and the clone nodded in understanding.

"Be careful and don't fall off!"

"Stop babying me, Aime-oneesan."

He laid on the top of the roof of the cart, pulled by hearty camel through the desert dunes. He watched the clouds and listened to his clone keep up the charade; he had kept clones active for far longer than this situation, but his reserves were still not at his best. He just had to hope that Aime wouldn't suddenly dispel in the middle of a conversation or he would have major issues.

When he felt himself yanked to his mindscape, standing before the giant fox hidden behind a cage. "Not that I'm not glad to see you, Kurama, but why did you pull me here?"

The fox roared at him again.  **"Don't use that name! You don't deserve to have it!"**

"You still haven't answered my question."

The creature clicked its claws on the floor of its cage.  **"I asked you here because I demand an explanation."**

"An explanation?" Naruto asked. "For what?"

The Kyuubi pointed at the walls in front of him, decorated with the eight identical seals, humming with power.  **"Those insufferable, outrageous things. What the hell have you done to the seal? Are you trying to insult me?"**

Naruto smiled genuinely. "I can't give you that information, because it's not mine to give. Just know that they are not meant for  _you,_  either. They are seals I brought back with me for a specific purpose." He gestured to them. "I wouldn't stare at them. What's inside is not meant for you, but some of it leaks out. I wouldn't want there to be consequences."

Even now, Naruto could feel some it affecting him, but he just had to shove it away. The Kyuubi exhaled audibly and bared his teeth at the boy, practically screaming.  **"I've noticed! Is this effect going to be here forever? I cannot stand this affront anymore, human!"**

A bit of shame hit him, and he wondered if there was a way to stop the seals from bleeding together. Fuuinjutsu might have been one of Naruto's skills, but it was far from his best. The bleeding effect when warding two seals together for separate purposes was nearly unavoidable at his level of mastery, but he still wished he could fix it for him.

"I'm sorry, Kurama. I'll try to get rid of them as soon as I can, and I'll work on a solution for it in the meantime," he promised, eliciting only a glare for using the monster's name this time. "It's a complex series of seals, something I've never done before. These seals are as unexplored as the jutsu I used to return to the past. I promise that I will work on understanding them better."

**"What do you expect that I do in the meantime, human? Am I to sit here and stew in the memories that do not belong to me?!"**

Naruto walked closer to the cage door, staring at the creature directly into the eye. "No. I truly do promise to do something about them. The only thing I can suggest is to remember who you are, Kurama; remind yourself of your own experiences and what makes you you. If you need to remember the people you've devoured, go for it. If you need to imagine tearing Madara Uchiha limb from limb and then feasting on his precious eyes, I'll be there to hand you a napkin when you're done." Naruto chuckled, and the Kyuubi's eyes widened at the mention of Madara. "The bleeding effect is going to be worst at the beginning due to the number of seals, but it will get easier as they start to disappear."

**"And when do they start to disappear?"**

Naruto turned and began to walk away. "If I'm lucky, you'll find out very soon." Before he was going to leave the space, he turned back to Kurama. "I didn't mean to cause this, but is it really bad enough that you can't handle it?" Naruto was genuinely concerned for him; it didn't seem like something that the Kyuubi couldn't endure.

 **"I can handle it, human. Don't patronize me!"**  the fox said with indignation.  **"I merely cannot stand this kind of manipulation. It's an affront to my very kind to have my mind be influenced in even the most minute ways by a mere human! But I can, and have, survived through much worse."**

* * *

Movement through the desert with the caravan was much slower that Naruto's own individual progress would have been; he wished he knew where Suna was so he could stop inching along, dune after dune, wondering how long it would take for someone to see him recreate Aime early in the morning, every morning. It had been almost five days, and the constant use of chakra to keep the Henge and the clone alive for sixteen or more hours each of those days was adding to his reserves and strengthening himself overall.

Yura never seemed to catch on, and Naruto and his clone tried to keep up appearances by offering help to the merchants; he had decided that shoveling camel shit was as disgusting as shoveling any other kind of shit. He did learn some information; there had been a series of attacks in recent weeks on caravans, hence the jonin shinobi to guard it. No one knows who the culprit is, and the whole thing is shrouded in mystery.

Naruto had spent countless hours wondering how he was going to keep up the charade if they attacked. Would he help Yura as a six-year-old who is clearly beyond his years? Would he have his clone, in disguise as Aime, do it and just explain that their father trained her in basic shinobi skills before he died? Or would he just let them attack and keep himself safe in the process, while he forced Yura to fight them off?

This was a prime opportunity to gain the trust and leadership of someone high up the chain on Suna's ladder, and yet, that same opportunity is dangerous. He had all the experience under his belt, but in this particular instance, it didn't matter.

"So Daichi, what do you want to be when you grow up?" Yura asked, an amicable smile on his face. Naruto winced from the top of the cart before turning down to him.

"I'm going to be a shinobi!" He shouted; laying the groundwork that maybe he had the skills to accomplish that feat would definitely help him. "I'm going to make everyone respect me!"

The man seemed to chuckle at his enthusiasm. "You're about the right age for the Academy, right? Maybe I could talk to someone in Suna for you?"

His eyes widened. "Really? You would do that?" Naruto couldn't believe this. The man was playing into his own hand. "Last person I learned from was my dad."

His clone seemed to join the conversation quickly, to cover for him. "Our father taught the two of us some of the basics before he died. He and a group of his buddies were self-taught, to protect where we're from."

The expression on Yura's face showed surprise, but there was a certain amount of mistrust hiding under the surface. "What do you know?"

As if on cue, someone screamed at the front of the cart, and Yura blurred into action and from sight, moving so fast after a hand-seal that he nearly vanished. It was unlike any Shunshin no Jutsu he had ever seen, but not necessarily faster.  _Is that a kekkei genkai? Jinton (Swift Release) maybe?_

Naruto grinned, realizing it would be believable now for him to join the fight; the man had bought the lie, hook line and sinker. He ran along the top of the carts, jumping toward where the fighting was occurring. He spun out of the way of a volley of kunai, spotting the target based on its trajectory.

He couldn't see any distinguishing features on the group, and they wore no headbands. All of them were dressed in black cloaks, and under that was simple fishnet armor and shades of green and blue. With one of them, by far the physically largest of them, was a launcher that was shooting kunai across nearly the entire length of the caravan, ripping through the linen and scaring or wounding the merchants. Screams were everywhere, and the entire caravan had nearly come to a stand-still.  _The camels!_

Naruto jumped down and unsealed his tanto from the small scroll hidden in his waistband, instantly whirring with movement and deflecting the projectiles that were going to kill the only source of movement for the caravan when this thing was over. His clone did the same on the other side of the caravan, protecting both sides. He could hear Yura fighting near the front.

When the enemy noticed his age, one of them starting to laugh and rushed towards him, joined by the others. The large black-haired man who had been using the kunai launcher stopped, putting it back on his back and carrying it like its size was nothing to him.

The one wearing a black hood covering nearly his entire face and only letting out his white hair raised an eyebrow at his appearance. "How old are you?"

The only woman of the group, with almost blue hair that wrapped around the shape of her face, chuckled. "Suna is worse than Kiri! Training kids!"

The last member of the trio didn't say anything, just stared at him. "I assure you that I am no ally of Suna," explained Naruto, dropping the facade of his young age. His tanto glinted in the sunlight, blonde hair dripping with sweat.

The diminutive white-haired man gestured farther up the caravan. "Go intercept Yura." The female nodded and made to jump to the other side, but Naruto leaped into action with a chakra-aided jump, just as his clone in disguise did the same. The woman only barely drew a kunai to stop the joint attack that would have decapitated her, before pushing off and landing right where she started.

"You little cretin!" Her fingers twisted through hand-seals, ending on the tiger seal.  **"Katon:** **Goukakyuu (Fire Release: Great Fireball)!"**

The ball of flames was smaller than any version of this he had ever seen before. It was almost laughable how lackluster the attack truly was. Naruto, however, was not to be outdone.  **"** **Suiton: Suihachi (Water Release: Hand of Waves)!"** From his palm shot a jet of water that tore through the oncoming flame attack, hitting the woman with full force and sending her flying. Water soaked into the sand very quickly, and the fireball was completely gone.

"What the hell? Who is this kid?!" The woman shouted as she landed hard in a dune of sand.

Naruto blasted through the created steam cloud and aimed his tanto directly at the huge black-haired man who had shot kunai at the entire caravan. But the leader of the group had other plans, intercepting him with a quick jab to the face that was obviously aided by wind chakra. "It doesn't matter who the kid is, because he's dead."

Naruto did a tuck and roll to the side to avoid a powerful kick before aiming his shoulder right at the man and tackling him to the ground. His clone made another move, rushing along the ground and aiming to kill the woman where she stood. Aime blocked a barrage of shuriken from the large weapons-user, smirking as he threw another handful.  **"Fuuton: Reppuushou (Wind Release: Gale Palm)!"**

The wind ripped into being as soon as the clone slapped her hands together, forming a veritable wall in front of her to reflect the shuriken back from where they came. The resounding shout of pain revealed the man's own tools had killed him, blood staining the desert with red.

The woman shouted with anger, rushing toward the man with glowing green hands. Naruto frowned. "The man is dead. Don't waste your energy." He blocked a palm strike from the white-haired commander of the group by a swipe of his own into the man's elbow, before doing a back-flip and kicking outward as he did. His foot made solid connection with the man's jaw.

Naruto pulled a kunai and hurled it with precision, striking the frantic woman trying to apply Iryo-ninjutsu to the dead body. The kunai struck her solidly in her right bicep, blood soaking instantly and stopping her jutsu. "If you had not wasted your time with your friend there, you might have gotten another hit in before you died."

"What do you-" The blood loss suddenly hit her, the crimson liquid from the strike pouring over the body she had tried to save. He had nicked a incredibly important artery that would drain the entire bloodstream in seconds.

The leader who had only used a form of wind chakra-based taijutsu before turned to the two of them. "You've killed my two comrades."

The clone smirked. "You should probably leave, or you'll wind up like your friends."

The white-haired man hesitated for a second, before disappearing in a blur much like the one Yura had used before. But instead of leaving, the man's incredible speed added to his punch that hit Naruto in the gut, hard enough to bruise. Every bit of breath was knocked from his body, and he shouted in agony.

"How's do you like our clan's kekkei genkai? It combines wind and lightning chakra into the tenketsu of our limbs, allowing us to move faster than any Shunshin," The man said with a grin, before making another custom hand-seal.  **"Jinton: Mueishou (Swift Release: Shadowless Flight)!"**  He blurred from sight once more, hitting the clone countless times from several angles and dispelling it, much to both Naruto's annoyance and the man's shock.

Naruto got up with a hint of a grin. "I know all about your techniques. I fought against them a long time ago. I was a bit faster than you back then; they called the Orange Flash, which was fitting if unoriginal, I guess."

"What the hell are you talking about? What happened to the girl?"

"You're Kubo, aren't you?" Naruto smiled when he finally realized it. He had fought against this same man once before. "You're a rogue shinobi from Sunagakure. You and your clan left the village because you disagreed with the choice for the Yondaime Kazekage. Your father wanted to win the seat. And Yura is one of your clan members."

The look of shock on Kubo's face was priceless; how could a six-year-old know all of this? "What's it to you?"

"I don't know, really. Just some information I've picked up over the years," he said honestly. "You don't even register on my list of problems."

Without warning, a clone jumped from the sand and grabbed the man from behind, holding him in place with chakra like an adhesive. Kubo cried out and tried to push the clone off, but it was long enough. Another clone appeared at Naruto's side, adding the rotation into the jutsu forming on his palm. A glowing blue ball of pure swirling chakra appeared, and the two clones dispelled as Naruto blasted forward.

Kubo was not able to move out of the way in time or activate his kekkei genkai, a Rasengan colliding with his torso and doing irreparable damage to his internal organs. Naruto pulsed water chakra through the sphere, and predictably caused a controlled burst, leaving a much larger exit wound than an entry one. The dead man spun away, rocketing into the dunes of sand and leaving bits of bodily debris in his wake.

"Figures that didn't work," he muttered.

Naruto made sure that Yura was still busy fighting before immediately slicing his own chest with a shallow wound. He made another clone, changing it into Aime once more, and made her look roughed up as well. It might have seemed bizarre, but it made blending into his role more serious if it looked like an actual injury had happened during the fighting. They were supposed to be relatively untrained children after all.

It didn't take the jonin very long to finish his own fight, another two dead bodies to add to the other three. When the man joined them to make sure they were okay, he looked winded but unharmed. He stared at the two of them and the carnage that had happened in the battle, Aime and Daichi were clutching each other for dear life in shock over what happened. Tears were running down the boy's eyes.

"I've never killed anyone before," he muttered, barely opening his eyes to look at Yura's face. The lie sent shivers down his spine.

"I know, Otouto. You're going to be all right."

"How did this happen?" asked Yura, amazed and probably terrified at the display. "You killed two of them? How trained are you?" His eyes gazed at the water that had turned the ground to mud. "Nature manipulation? You know nature manipulation?"

Aime raised her hand. "I do, sir, but Daichi does not. He got lucky and managed to hit an artery on the woman with one of the kunai he threw." She gulped in realization of what her brother had done. "I did most of the heavy-lifting. The man with white hair... He acted like he knew who you were, Yura-san. He used taijutsu and had me on the ropes, and probably would have killed me. I got a close hit on him with one of my suiton ninjutsu."

The jonin was trying to piece together the situation, but he seemed to believe her testimony. "It was Kubo, my clan's head." He frowned at the memory of it, staring at the three bodies with fond memories attached; he must have known them. "My clan betrayed the village years ago. I had to stay behind; my loyalty to the Kazekage is important to me. They have been trying to get me back, since my father died and Kubo took over. He obviously thought that I'll join him, but why would I betray the people of the village for my clan's self-interest?"

Naruto's eyes widened; it was the same dilemma he had faced only days ago, but he had decided in reverse. "I think protecting the people who are closer to you is just as important as duty to your village," Daichi explained. "It all depends on how you look at it."

The man didn't say anything for a few minutes, before suddenly snapping into reality. "Okay, we've got tons of stuff to do. Let's get you bandaged up and then help the others. I think there are several wounded, and the village is not too much farther from here."

* * *

Naruto and his clone were ushered into the village by Yura, and it felt like such a success to him that he had won the man over with his act. He had gotten into Sunagakure without even having to sneak in. He'd practically been welcomed into the front door. They weren't going to think too highly of him when he finally left the village, but if he could help it, he'd leave without them noticing he was gone.

He had always liked the stark contrast in setting between Konoha and Suna. Konoha was surrounded by life and its buildings were colorful and vibrant. Suna was surrounded by a barren wasteland and most of its buildings were the same color, hewn from the same material. The people wore subdued light tones, and the personalities were not quite the same overall. It took a different kind of person to live in a desert than it did in a forest, and their hearty nature was well-known.

The smells and textures were different, and the wind had a constant stream of bits of sand from all angles. Inside the village, the effects were less obvious due to the walls of stone surrounding the village as though it had been carved out of a giant mesa or plateau in the middle of miles and miles of sand. Naruto had never been to the capital of Kaze no Kuni, but he had to wonder what it was like in comparison to the shinobi village.

"I'll escort you guys to Tsubasa. Do you know where he's staying?" Yura took a moment to pause before frowning. "Or maybe we should go back to the hospital first and get you treatment. I don't know why I didn't have you guys go with the other wounded. Is that where Tsubasa is?"

"The temple is in the northern district, and that should be where he's staying. But no, we don't need a hospital, we promise. None of our injuries were very severe, and they'll heal quickly!" Aime answered, touching the layer of bandages over the stab wound on her shoulder.

If they went to the hospital, there was no doubt that they would attract attention and the medical shinobi may have been able to read through Naruto's clone's Henge, and he didn't want that at all. Eventually, Aime would disappear and he would stop using her, but for now, their sibling act was the only thing keeping Naruto from a Sunagakure prison.

"Are you sure?" asked the jonin. "I mean, I really need to report to the Kazekage about what happened. But I can get you to a hospital really quickly, if you really need it."

"No, we'll be fine!" The clone assured him. "I promise. Now, it's that way."

They rounded a few more corners, walking past all of the different shops and homes and schools. He'd spotted Suna's Academy in the distance, and he wondered how far along the Sand Siblings were in their studies. But before they actually arrived at the temple, Naruto managed to pull away from the group, and in a moment of quick distraction, he made another shadow-clone and Henge combination, creating Tsubasa out of nothing. A kind-looking older man with graying hair and a jovial face. His illness was easy to mimic, and his clothes were that of a monk. Yura had not noticed, diverted by the other clone.

"Oh my!" Tsubasa shouted, suddenly breaking a tear. "Daichi-chan! Aime-chan! It's so good to see you! I had no idea you were coming!"

They rushed to embrace, and Yura stayed a few feet away, watching awkwardly. "It took forever to get here, but Yura-san got us the last part of the way! We were lost in the desert for a long time!" Daichi practically shouted, happy tears.

"Is that so?" Tsubasa grinned, reaching out to take Yura's hand. "It's not contagious." Yura blinked and then chuckled.

"I apologize. That was rude," Yura said, returning the gesture. "All right, kids, I really need to go. Be careful; I'll visit you."

"Thank you for returning my family to me," Tsubasa said, bowing.

The shinobi bowed to him as well. "I'm happy to. Those kids are a handful." He paused and then looked more seriously, saying it just loud enough they couldn't hear. "If you will, please take care of them. I know you're sick, and they will probably think they'll be taking care of you. Something happened on the way, and I worry the guilt will crush them."

The monk smiled solemnly. "I promise to do that."

With another hand-seal, the man disappeared with his Jinton kekkei genkai, and Naruto just sighed greatly when all of it was over. He looked toward his clones, nodding to them before walking into an alleyway and dispelling them.

* * *

"This technique... it's unlike anything I've ever seen," the scientist said, showing Yura pictures of the damages. Yura hated these kinds of meetings, and he had a personal connection to this one. Kubo had been family, even if they had a strained relationship. "There's clear evidence of water chakra, coupled with some kind of rippling effect made from an energy-based attack."

Yura frowned. "And?" He hated seeing the pictures of Kubo's corpse.

"I don't know, Yura-san. I thought maybe you might have seen something like it. It's like an incredibly condensed bubble of swirling chakra burst inside the body."

The man shook his head, thinking about Aime and her apparently odd Suiton ninjutsu. "No, I haven't."

"Should we inform the Kazekage?" asked another scientist. "We might be able to question her and learn what kind of ninjutsu this is, and maybe replicate it."

It took Yura a long moment to respond; the curious scientist-types were some of the worst people he had ever met. He didn't like the questioning, and it felt like an autopsy had ruined whatever dignity that Kubo's body deserved. It may have been self-defense, but he had a bit of contempt for the girl who had caused this.

"No. The matter ends here."

"But Yura-san, this could be a benefit to Sunagakure!"

"Why don't we focus on accelerating and expanding the techniques that Suna already has, rather than try to gain new ones? That girl doesn't want this life, and she and her brother reacted in self-defense. It's done."

Yura left the room until Kubo's body could be released to be returned to the clan's compound, but he didn't let any of them talk to him again. This was a unique situation, but he didn't want or need Aime or Daichi to become involved. He'd let them live their lives in peace, and ignore any attempts for Daichi to apply to the Academy.

He truly wanted to let this and his clan to rest now, like the bodies he was about to bury.

* * *

Days passed before he received any visits from anyone, and he had to keep up the charade whenever Yura or another jonin was around. For the most part, he kept to himself and actually did stay in the temple; an old man was happy to be kind to an orphan like him. He spent his days training at a training ground about as far from the temple as he could, so that no one would know to look for him there.

His water chakra manipulation was one of his newest skills, developed only a few years before he came back. Compared to his mastery of wind chakra, his second chakra nature still had quite a bit of work to go. He thought back to Sasuke, and his own natures of fire and lightning chakra. Water and wind balanced the two of them out like they were fated to constantly parallel each other, and Naruto wanted to spit in disgust.

Ignoring that tangent of thought, he wanted to create a Suiton equivalent of Fuuton: Rasenshuriken, because he was genuinely curious as to what it would look like or how powerful it could be. He imagined that it wouldn't have the offensive power that Rasenshuriken has, due to water chakra's natural properties being less offensive than wind. But for some reason, he had never been able to get it to work, no matter how many months or years he had tried. Even with the Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu method. He had not wanted to give up on it at all, but he was starting to think it was impossible.

That battle with Kubo had ended with a bit of experimentation, but it bore no fruit. Still, it gave him an interesting ground to possibly work from to develop it into something viable.

He heard a loud voice cutting through his inner thoughts, shouting as they hurried into the training center. To his shock were Temari and Kankuro; this was the perfect chance to get information on Gaara and Yashamaru. The two of them looked naked to him without their respective weapons on their person.

Naruto waved before the boy stopped his whining and turned to him. "Hey! What are you doing in our training ground?"

"Is your name on it?"

Kankuro crossed his arms. "No, but clearly it should be. We're the kids of the Kazekage for crying out loud."

"Kankuro, don't be rude to little kids," the future Fuuton master said.

Naruto frowned at that, as did Kankuro. "I'll leave if you want," the blonde said, standing up from his pose on the ground. "I don't want to cause any trouble."

"See, you made the kid feel bad. What is Yashamaru always reminding you?" Naruto's eyes twinkled at the mention of Yashamaru; the plot on Gaara's life had not happened yet, and that his soul reason for coming here in the first place.

The other boy sighed. "Fine. You can stay. What are you actually using the training ground for? You're a little scrawny to be in the Academy, and I've never seen you in Gaara's class before."

"I'm training. What else would I be doing?"

The tattoo-wearing boy looked like he was going to bite his head off, but the girl interrupted. "So what are you working on?"

Naruto turned to Temari. "I'm trying to perfect my wind chakra manipulation. It seems to be getting harder by the day."

The girl's eyes bulged out. "Wind chakra? Really? I'm working on that too!" Naruto just grinned; he was going to get something out of this, if only to keep the siblings off of his back around Gaara.

"I can show you some tips if you want," he answered, before walking over and pulling a leaf from the bush nearby. He held it in his hands and suddenly bisected it without a single second, only leaving a tiny imperfection so it didn't look too perfect for her.

"Holy crap, how'd you do that? I can barely tear it at all, and I can't even use the fan my father got for me."

"Why don't I show you?" After getting her on the right track, he turned to Kankuro. "So what are you training for?"

The man frowned. "I'm not really sure, to be perfectly honest. All I've got is really good chakra control. I was thinking of working on medical ninjutsu."

Naruto peered at him in surprise; that was odd. "Really?" The tattooed kid seemed to be a little bit offended by his questioning. "I just thought you looked more like a puppeteer. Have you considered that?"

Kankuro raised an eyebrow, a twinge of annoyance still on his voice; he obviously did not like people younger than him. "Well, I haven't, but it would be kind of cool to bring some of my drawings to life as puppets. I've never really thought of those as being designs though."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, maybe you'll build your own puppet army one day!" He didn't want to tell him that that was true; Kankuro had created an entire army to lay siege to Iwagakure once.

After a few more minutes of Temari's frustrated groans, Naruto decided it was time to leave. "Maybe I'll see you around."

"Hey, what's your name, kid?" Temari shouted after him, but Naruto ignored it purposefully. He didn't want to use the Daichi alias anymore, but he didn't want to tell the children of the Kazekage himself his real name. His name was associated with a face, and he wouldn't be surprised if the name was out there in the whispers of intelligence groups everywhere.

* * *

When Naruto discovered one of the many civilian libraries, he was upset to realize that they did not hold any information about fuuinjutsu. He had spent several days looking through every library he could actually access, but it had not worked. Sunagakure's Sealing Corps was perhaps the most adept at fuuinjutsu in all the Elemental Nations, now that the Uzumaki were no longer around. He remembered their expertise in the Fourth Shinobi World War was paramount to the Shinobi Alliance's initial success.

But despite that, he would have to find a shinobi library and get inside if he wanted to actually learn something that could help Kurama's dilemma, and even then, the details were sketchy. When he finally found one that he hoped would work, the genin managing the place had not let him inside.

"Oh come on. I just want to look at your scrolls or books about seals." He pulled out the sealing scroll for his tanto. "My father gave this to me before he died, and I wanted to learn more about how it works."

The woman, red facial marks covering her cheeks, pondered it a moment before shaking her head. "No, I can't let any civilians inside without a shinobi license." At Naruto's dejected face, she sighed. "But I guess I could share with you what I know personally. That's not against the rules." She smiled and Naruto suddenly remembered who she was: Maki. The tattoos on her face should have been obvious.

They sat on the steps outside the library, and she analyzed the scroll he had presented to her. "What do you really want to know?"

"What kind of jutsu do they use to put something inside it?" Naruto asked. "My father taught me how to get it out and put it back in, but he didn't teach me how that really worked."

She set into a lengthy explanation about the basics of space-time ninjutsu and how the fuuinjutsu acted as a representation of that very ninjutsu. The seals hit the essence of an object and allowed passage into and out of the small pocket dimension represented inside the seal. Naruto nodded and only made comments when he was sure she needed it, because otherwise, he already knew all of this. He had firsthand experience after all, of going into the seal on his belly.

"But what happens if you put two or more seals together?" he asked, getting to the root of what he wanted to know. "What if they are trying to do different things?"

The older girl, probably only twelve or thirteen years old, pondered it for a minute. "I don't really know. I've never done that kind of seal myself, and I've never heard of it before." She stopped for a minute, looking down. "I wish Pakura was here to ask her. I bet she would know."

Naruto nodded in understanding; Pakura must have been Maki's sensei or idol. He didn't know much about her, only that she had had a powerful kekkeki genkai and was praised for it. "That's okay! Is there a chance any of those books inside have any more information about that?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, before frowning. "I'm not letting you insi-"

"Oh, I know! I just wondered if you could look for me."

The girl took a moment to consider it and then grinned. "Yeah, I guess I can try to find something about multiple seals working together. I'm Maki by the way."

"Daichi," Naruto added, swallowing hard about having to use the alias again.

"Well, come by again sometime later this week, Daichi-chan. Maybe I'll know something to tell you."

Naruto left the library after that, hoping Maki could help him and Kurama. The bleeding effect would lessen as he found more jinchuuriki, but it was still a problem for now. He didn't want that effect messing with the seal any more than the fox did.

* * *

The sounds of laughter and enjoyment taunted him, plagued his very existence. He clutched the bear in his hand harder, swinging back and forth. The sun was nearing the horizon, and it would soon become nightfall. He barely paid any attention to the cycles of the sun, the dark bags under his eyes so thick it was almost impossible not to notice them first as his defining feature.

He continued to watch from afar, unable to pass the distance to join them. They just needed the right incentive to let him play too, he was sure of it. When one of them kicked the ball so high it was launched to the top of a small cliff, he was almost giddy inside for the chance. His heartbeat increased as the kids pondered what to do to get the ball back, but the power was within his grasp.

A small platform of sand reached out and grabbed the ball, lowering it to his hands almost effortlessly. An uncertain hint of a smile reached his lips at the prospect of having friends, of getting to enjoy himself for once without crippling loneliness.

"It's that kid!"

He paused, realizing what they were about to say before they could say it. "Here," he offered, holding the ball and hoping that his small voice could reach them.

It took only seconds for the fear to mask their faces, and the group of children turned around and ran as far away as they could, shouting along the way.

"No! Wait!" Gaara cried out, about to reach out. But another kid caught his attention, a blonde boy with odd birthmarks on his face and bright blue eyes. He was walking towards him out of the corner of his eye, and he all but forgot about the other kids.

"Hey!" the newcomer said, smiling brightly. "Wanna play?"


	3. Explosive Bond

The moment the words slipped from his mouth, the tension around Gaara's expression shifted. A look of fear, a fear of exclusion, faded into one of confusion and mistrust. Was this the first time that someone had tried to get close to the Ichibi jinchuuriki for anything more than manipulative reasons?

From the minor amount of sensor training Naruto had, he could tell that there was someone disguised around the corner, watching. Naruto couldn't make any absolute guesses, but he imagined that Gaara never went anywhere without Yashamaru or other members of ANBU watching from a distance. The fox's jinchuuriki let a small smirk reach his lips when he imagined that man's face at Naruto's sudden offer to play.

The redhead's rustling sand seemed to calm, becoming wisps in the wind instead of a solid arm reaching out to grab the retreating children. Naruto knew what it was like to have a foreign presence in his mind; he almost laughed because even  _he_  was really a foreign mental presence in his young body. Gaara, however, had Shukaku whispering in his ear at all times, an unhealthy side-effect of Suna tinkering with the sealing formula that they had used on him so that the boy could access the Ichibi's chakra.  _That back-fired spectacularly._ The chakra never left the boy's system, corroding it with the Bijuu's hatred.

"...Who are you?" the boy finally asked, his voice unsure.

"My name is Daichi," Naruto said, realizing that if he had had the opportunity, he could have set up privacy seals so that he could reveal his real name. "What's your name?"

"Sabaku no Gaara."

"Cool name, Gaara-kun. It makes you sound all mysterious. You've got a cool shinobi title built-in! Sabaku no Gaara, the Godaime Kazekage!" Naruto declared with a cheeky grin, shocking the boy with the implications of that. "I want to become a shinobi myself. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know," the boy said after a hesitated pause.

"Surely you must have _some_ motivations," Naruto said, hoping he could lead the boy into a certain train of thought. "Everyone does! What do you want to do with your life?"

It seemed like an unbearably long amount of time before Gaara looked up at the boy. "I don't want to be lonely anymore."

The blonde boy grinned excitedly, both in triumph over hearing that and in legitimate care for the younger jinchuuriki. "Good. Now, why don't you kick me that ball?"

There was a long, imperceptible moment before Gaara dropped the ball to the ground. It bounced once and the stoic boy did not move to hit it, acting like he really didn't know what to do. It took Naruto pantomiming what to do to kick it that he finally did, reaching his leg back and kicking the ball.

In that split-second, Naruto studied the boy's face and a small but legitimate grin had stirred, and some of the mirth returned to his face. Within minutes, he and the boy were kicking it back and forth, and Gaara seemed to be happy, like a small distraction had cut through the murky depression surrounding him.

"This is awesome, isn't it?" Naruto shouted, kicking it as hard as he dared. It soared toward Gaara's head, and it took him a moment to realize he had overdone it. But the sand intervened, a wall of the material grabbing the oncoming projectile and crushing it within its grasp.

"No!" Gaara shouted, but it had happened reflexively. The remains of the rubber ball hit the ground, as did his sand, and the redhead turned and sprinted away, a single tear falling to the ground.

"Gaara, wait! It's okay!" But the boy did not listen, hurrying away.

Naruto cursed under his breath, and the clones he had had hidden all around the small field moved to follow, to ensure that Yashamaru did not decide today was the day. Naruto picked up a piece of the ball and placed it in his pocket, before stealthily watching Yashamaru flicker out sight.

* * *

Weeks passed with Naruto's clones offering constant surveillance of Gaara and Yashamaru's every move. Naruto himself spent as much time with the boy as he could, probably flying in the face of whatever warning Gaara's uncle had given him. What exactly  _were_  Yashamaru's motivations to keep the jinchuuriki from interacting with anyone? Wasn't the village's fear of him enough? If someone like him came along and actually wanted to get to know Gaara, then why would Yashamaru object to that? The father's hatred for the boy must have been far stronger than even Naruto had realized, if Yashamaru was under orders to keep him away from any of the braver children of the village.

Even seasoned shinobi, chunin and the occasional jonin alike, kept clear of Suna's weapon. Naruto knew from his own experience that loneliness was an awful way to try to keep a jinchuuriki under the thumb of the village, especially one as young as Gaara. The boy had no concept of love or even emotion, and he had no real ties to Suna. His siblings were cold to him; Naruto had witnessed it in both timelines. In the right moment of anger, Gaara could unleash Shukaku on the village and feel no regret. Turning a child into a cold, rage-filled tool with a beast for a tenant and no people precious to him was an awful practice, but Naruto could understand it in the right circumstances.

It was the Kazekage's arrogance, really, that got in the way of any kind of relationship he could have with Gaara. His gold dust was a powerful ability that could be used to control Shukaku or at least hold Shukaku's sand at bay, but his inability to see the boy as anything but the beast within would never be the right circumstances. Gaara deserved better; he deserved the love and respect of those around him, and Naruto had watched him thrive with the adoration of his village.

The old Naruto and Gaara were nearly two sides of the same coin. Both had similar goals and aspirations, born out of the same kind of isolation that would tear lesser people to shreds. Both of them had received the respect of the respective villages, and Gaara had gone on to become the Kage. Naruto's intervention would lead to a different result, however, but perhaps one that led to the benefit of everyone.

"Um... Daichi?"

Naruto glanced up, broken from his reverie. The genin girl before him was holding a scroll out in front of his eyes, showing him a specific design. "Sorry, Maki-chan. You were saying?"

She frowned at the use of the honorific, but ignored it and waved the paper in front of him. "Well, I think I've found something you might like to know."

He took it from her hands, looking over the sealing paper. It was old, yellowing at the edges, despite the small bit of chakra running through the ink. Naruto recognized elements of the seal, like the different foundational junction points to add more shapes and imbue it with fresh chakra to mold it into different purposes. The most familiar part was the small spiral in the center, surrounded on all sides by junction points.  _The Uzumaki spiral..._

It took him a few moments to realize that this had to be the same kind of foundational seal that the Uzumaki used as stabilizers. Each of the junction points had unique properties that could theoretically bind any seals together, so long as you knew their properties beforehand. The bleeding effect that plagued the Kyuubi would be rendered moot if he could simply harness it!

"Wow. What is it?"

The genin studied the face that was feigning ignorance, but if she caught on, Naruto would never know. "It's the only kind of seal in the library that has similar properties to what you asked me to find a while back." She pointed to the junction points and explained their purpose. "These let you bind seals together from the same chakra source, but different chakra sources are more complex. Like, for example, if I were to seal a kunai into a seal with my chakra to bind it, and then you were to use that same seal to seal a shuriken with your chakra, sometimes the chakra bleeds together and conflicts." She pointed to the seal in the center. "This is a simplistic example of a complex seal, but if you use this correctly, each member of an army could potentially bind a weapon or more into the same giant roll of sealing paper." She sounded excited, like she had just figured something out. Naruto was glad to have helped her in some way, because he remembered hearing about her proficiency in the Fourth Shinobi World War.

Naruto smiled. "Thank you, Maki-chan! You're the best! Can I take this scroll with me?"

She shook her head quickly. "No, of course not; you're a civilian. But if you can figure out how to copy it exactly, I'll let you keep it." Naruto waited until she hurried back outside, with a simple sheet of paper and a quill ink pen and ink well. Apparently she was old school, and it just made him laugh.

After a long moment, Naruto began to transcribe the seal perfectly, and after a bit of patience, Maki's eyes widened. "Wow. That's flawless. How did you learn how to do that?"

"I'm just tracing it, Maki-chan. It's not that hard." Naruto had a naturally steady hand, even after all the things that he'd been through. It was almost a miracle he even had the ability to concentrate long enough without shaking to make seals at all. He had a lot of practice forging paperwork while infiltrating, so mimicking penmanship was easy to him.

"Still, I don't think I could have copied it without messing up. I'm just amazed."

He just grinned sheepishly. "Yeah. Well, I'm off to figure this out. See you later!" And with that, the blonde ran off, leaving the genin to consider the scroll in her hands.  _What a strange boy to be so interested in Fuuinjutsu._

* * *

 _Four._ The least number of sidewalk concrete tiles that separated him from any stranger at all times.

 _Three._  The least number of sidewalk concrete tiles that separated him from his siblings at all times.

The boy watched his brother and sister train often, even if they didn't actually like him there. He was keenly aware of how much they wished he wasn't with them, and Kankuro reminded him of that as often as he could. He'd asked Yashamaru about it, but his uncle had told him that it was just childishness, that it would fade.

But his siblings didn't get any closer to him than the strangers did; not really. The distance of one more tile, exactly four feet across, was irrelevant to the amount of distance that actually mattered. They still felt like strangers to him, and it was only in these brief moments where Kankuro and Temari were so focused on trying to improve their skills that they really bothered to forget he was there.

Kankuro had begun tinkering with small tools, like pulleys and wire, and he didn't have much knowledge about what puppeteers actually did, but that was apparently his brother's goal now. Gaara really didn't understand why his sibling had focused so intently on playing with dolls. Temari was in near constant practice cutting leaves and small rocks with her chakra, trying to learn something called nature transformation. In terms of skills, Gaara wondered if he would ever really have to train like they did. Controlling the sand was as natural to him as breathing, although he wondered how much more he could really do with it if he did. Most of the time, it happened on its own, without any kind of real exertion.

"Hey, you guys!" someone shouted, strolling into the training ground like he owned the place. Gaara peered ahead, unsure of why he felt a sudden rush in his system upon seeing the blonde boy. He had no idea why Yashamaru hated Daichi so much; Daichi was the only person who had ever played with him before.

Kankuro rolled his eyes at the kid's presence, but Temari practically rushed over to him, holding a stone in her hand. "Look, Daichi! I managed to do it!"

The blonde smiled brightly. "That's great. I see you're carrying your fan today?"

She nodded, the bulky metallic object on her back looking too cumbersome. "Yeah. I'm getting better at channeling chakra through it, but changing that nature to wind is still hard."

Daichi nodded, but he seemed pre-occupied. "Cool. I'm glad you're figuring it out."

Gaara didn't move from his spot to the side as he watched them converse, but he wanted to get up to join them. Maybe he could offer advice for his sister or even ask Daichi what he was training for. It was surprising to learn that the boy had any kind of skills of his own, and seemed to know a lot about some of the basics and even some advanced techniques. It wasn't uncommon for clan shinobi to train their children much earlier in things like their basic chakra nature, but Daichi wasn't part of any clans. Gaara wished he could figure him out.

 _ **You'll never figure him out.**_ The pain spread to his head yet again, and he tried not to focus on it, but it suddenly intensified. Mother's voice was getting thicker, stronger, more vibrant each day; to what end, Gaara had no idea, but the pain was unbearable.  _ **You'll never figure anyone out. I am the only one you will ever understand, and I'm the only one you should ever rely on.**_

He clutched his face and cried out, tears gathering on his eyes as the mental pain grew. He could feel his chakra expand and contract, the sands around him pulsing rhythmically to every throbbing moment.

"Gaara!" someone shouted, but he couldn't tell who. He peered up, forcing himself to meet the on-comer, only just in time for the sand to roughly shove the blonde boy away.

"No!" he shouted, screaming. Temari and Kankuro did not move to help Daichi, too afraid to get close to their brothe- no, to the monster. His weapon and defense swirled around him, preparing to attack if necessary, but when Daichi stood up as though nothing had ever happened, he didn't move from his spot.

"Gaara, listen to my voice! Isolate it! Don't let anything else come inside your mind."

He tried, he really did, but Daichi's words were drowned by Mother's ramblings. Mother wouldn't let Gaara forget about her. It took several seconds before someone appeared in front of him, removing his hood. His uncle was suddenly in front of him, between him and Daichi, and a swell of emotion finally cleared his head. "Gaara!" It took a few more seconds before the sand began to swell, but Yashamaru turned to the younger blonde. "Stay away from him, if you know what's good for your own safety."

When Gaara's sand finally ended its constant stirring, he was pulled away from Daichi again by his uncle. He looked over his shoulder, watching his two uncaring siblings and the blonde boy. The redhead hated this; hated himself for being this way. He just wanted this to end.

* * *

The boy pressed on with all the stealth of decades of training, with a skill level that matched ANBU. The village's outskirts were nearly abandoned in comparison to the residential and commercial districts, and the temple he was trying to find was abandoned. He doubted he would be found, but he really didn't care if he _was_  found. He personally wouldn't have to deal with the consequences.

Convincing the others that he was the right man for the job was complicated, because there were several more possibilities hidden around the village in various locations, as various people. He was essentially learning the true skill level he had retained, as well as ascertaining how well he could truly blend in when the others were involved. But that wasn't his purpose; for now, he had to learn everything he could. And he was the one with the most chakra left, and he had to make his move now or else he would start losing his form and sanity.

The temple looked about as awful as he had expected, but the famed spiral was clearly displayed on its front. Some of the pillars had collapsed from wear, and it definitely looked like the kind of place that had not been structurally sound for many years. Was it haunted by the dead members of the Boss's clan, because it felt like the kind of place that could be?

There was no sign of anyone inside, as expected. The last time the Boss had visited a place like this, he'd gone back in time. He doubted that he would find anything like that again, but the knowledge inside this place could be incredibly important. No one would be able to unlock its secrets like he could; well, the Boss anyway.

The main attraction of this temple seemed to be the masks that adorned its walls, each of them more fearsome than the last. No one would be able to pick them up, not even him; the clone didn't dare to touch any of them, because he didn't have enough chakra of his own to withstand the drain.

He passed the mask that had turned the tide of the Fourth Shinobi World War, resembling the mask that adorned the face of the Shinigami. Orochimaru had single-handedly returned his father to him, however briefly, through the Edo Tensei after using this mask. He studied it, wondering if there was some way he could find use for it, but it was impossible. His father and the Yin Chakra of the Kyuubi were locked away inside the stomach of the Shinigami, and he had no idea how that would be any use to him without knowing how to perform that forbidden resurrection technique.

Still, he made a mental note that it was here, still, for the Boss in the rare event that he could find it and make use of it somehow. Joining the Yin and Yang Chakras of the Kyuubi together would be incredibly useful, although he wasn't sure if the seal would hold or if his body would be able to handle it in his current form.

He continued to search the small compound for anything that could be relevant, like scrolls or books. Knowledge was power; embracing that philosophy had taken far too long in his old life, and he wasn't going to let that sour now. If this was the old Boss, he would probably be looking for some kind of weapon or secret tool that could give him an advantage, but the temple didn't have anything viable like that. Those masks might be the only things worthy of note, and it was a little bit terrifying to imagine.

He only found two scrolls that were simplistic accounts of religious rites performed by people in Uzushiogakure, and the clone didn't think there was anything of relevance there. Most religions or religious practices these days venerated the traditions of the Rikudou Sennin, or the Sage of Six Paths, and his immediate followers. These scrolls weren't much different, but it still felt good to see something from the Boss's clan. This kind of knowledge deserved to be preserved and learned, not sitting in some abandoned Mask Storage Temple.

Still, he pulled a blank scroll from his pocket and opened it, knowing maybe there be something practical to be learned underneath the underneath. He laid that scroll and one of the religious scrolls side by side and stuck his two thumbs in an ink well, before pressing them both to either scroll and generating chakra. The blank scroll was suddenly filled with a replica of the information, the ink spreading from the chakra in his fingertips and dancing across the page. As soon as it was done, the replica scroll disappeared in a puff of smoke.

It was an unnamed technique that Naruto had developed for gathering intelligence, a combination of the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu's unique properties and Fuuinjutsu, inspired by Sai's ink techniques. The real Naruto would open one of the blank scrolls that he always kept on his person for this exact purpose, and the scroll would be filled with the knowledge that the clone wrote or copied. The implications for this were extremely far reaching, because Naruto didn't have to have an eidetic memory to remember shipping logs of the enemy or other pieces of written intelligence that his clones found. It was much easier than trying to get a clone out of an enemy stronghold with secret documents, when they could just dispel themselves after filling the blank scroll.

"There has to be something else here," the clone muttered, continuing to search the temple after sending the replica of the second scroll.

He passed through a second hallway, another arrangement of masks filling the walls of that second wing. When he was sure there was nothing, the clone turned around and nearly ran straight into a Raikiri. He had enough time to press himself to the floor, before creating a single hand-seal. The clone switched places with one of the masks, and both the clone  _and_  Kakashi were surprised to see that the lightning ninjutsu was absorbed into the one-horned blue mask.

"Kakashi Hatake," the clone muttered, looking at his former sensei in his ANBU uniform, a white porcelain mask on his face. It surprised him a little that Kakashi was still in ANBU at this time period, but the silver-haired shinobi hadn't ever explained to him how many years he had served as just a jonin after leaving ANBU.

If Kakashi was surprised to be recognized by him, he didn't show it. "Hello, Uzumaki-san. Fancy meeting you here of all places, huh?"

The man's voice was colder, more direct, and there was no mirth to it like before, despite the words he spoke. His muscles were tense, and his shoulders looked too tightly wound to be productive. Was this what his teacher had been like in ANBU?

"Yeah, it's a little coincidental, isn't it? Tell me, did my mother ever take you here, or were you as oblivious to its existence as I was growing up?"

Kakashi just continued to stare, in a stance but not quite ready to use it.

"The Hokage really didn't let me know about anything, did he? There was a long time before I even knew anything about my mother's clan," he paused, turning to the man. "I don't suppose she or Dad would be happy that you just tried to kill me now, would they?"

The man scoffed. "Come on, kid. I know you're a clone."

The blonde visibly sighed in relief. "Oh good, at least you aren't totally hopeless. I was worried there for a minute that you'd lost your touch. You could have just gone for your sword or even a simple jab to the back of the neck, but instead, you went for your assassination trump card. I guess you don't pull punches for shadow-clones, do you?"

"I don't pull punches for traitors." The words did actually sting coming from him, but he couldn't afford to show it. "How many more of you are there in the village? And how did Naruto sneak you past the village's security?"

The clone smirked. "Did you know that I can make a nearly-perfect Henge with multiple layers? I had to learn how to trick the Uchiha; how else do you think I could get away with so many pranks under their Sharingan supervision? Since your own eye is just borrowed, I imagine you aren't quite as skilled as they are."

"How many?" Kakashi repeated.

"Three," he lied, knowing there were at least a dozen left; he personally hadn't kept track, but of that amount, he really didn't know which ones were battle-capable. They were reaching their limit for mental and physical stability quickly. "But they are not here to do anything majorly awful, I assure you."

Kakashi inched toward the blade on his back, and the clone noticed. "Why should I believe you, when you've killed one of our shinobi and crippled another?"

The clone peered at him.  _Crippled? Who did the Boss cripple?_ His mind was brought to Iruka's broken form on the ground of the clearing, and he felt a sudden pang of guilt that reached his face.

Kakashi audibly chuckled an odd laugh. "Hit a nerve?"

He shook his head. "No. The squad of chunin attacked me first, and it was all in self-defense. I wanted to leave the village without any bloodshed. And even then, Mizuki was planning on betraying the village; I overheard him discussing Orochimaru with some random genin named Kabuto while I was getting ready to egg the Academy a few months ago. Taking him out will probably lead to less hassle in the end."

The clone was so proud of himself that he wanted to create another clone and pat himself on the back. In one reflexive move, he had implicated Orochimaru and Kabuto, as well as explaining his actions with killing Mizuki. He might gain some small bit of favor with Konoha, even if tensions were forever heightened between them.

Kakashi just looked at him. "Even if that is all true, it doesn't change anything. If you came across this information, you should have told the correct people on the chain of command. You're a Missing-Nin now, Uzumaki. A rogue shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato."

The clone grinned, but it was all a facade. "Heh, that's hilarious. Am I officially the first Missing-Nin who never stepped foot in the Academy? I'm not even a shinobi at all. If that information was included in the Bingo Books, people would probably laugh at you." His face darkened. "Which is probably why it won't be included at all, isn't it, Kakashi? The Boss is the jinchuuriki. You wouldn't want that to become public knowledge. After all, if Kumo, or Iwa, or even Kiri discovered that Konoha couldn't handle their jinchuuriki, who happens to be a small child, it would be really easy for them to march with their own jinchuuriki, huh?"

The silver-haired ANBU member moved to strike, and the clone drew his blade with a single motion and blocked the attack. They clashed several more times from different angles, and Naruto was almost glad to fight him again; the Rokudaime Hokage had been one of his teachers for kenjutsu after all.

The clone's physical stature was both a disadvantage and an advantage at the same time; he didn't have the weight or the power he could strike with, but Kakashi was clearly not used to fighting people as short as Naruto was. Despite that, he wasn't going to let the man have the advantage, even though the stakes were not high for him. If he dispelled, it wouldn't be a horrible loss.

Naruto pushed and jumped backwards, giving himself some space. "Why are you wasting your time on a clone, Kakashi? Just dispel me already."

It was a legitimate question, because even at Naruto's prime, Kakashi could have handled a single basic shadow-clone with ease. Why was the man holding back? But his eyes widened in realization when it finally hit him.  _He's trying to get information about just how skilled the Boss is._ He could also be trying to discover whether or not the fox is in control; the Boss's stunt with Hayate was bound to leave some concerns with the villages that the human had become the monster.

Kakashi grimaced at being challenged by him, but made a very familiar hand-seal. An identical replica of the Copy-Nin popped into existence, and the blonde clone rolled his eyes.

"Seriously? I'm offended."

When the three attackers clashed again, a flurry of blades struck each other, and he had to hold his own. The Naruto clone jumped onto the rubble of a destroyed pillar, making use of the extra height to gain the advantage. Sparks flew as metal smashed against metal, and Kakashi quickly recovered again. The length of the two swords was another factor to consider, and Naruto was clearly at a disadvantage with how short his own weapon was.

He smirked when he realized he had a way out of that problem, but he had to be careful not to show his hand with anymore tricks. They would already know that he knew how to do that, because he had killed Mizuki with that move.

It took only a second of concentration for the Naruto clone to generate wind chakra on his tanto, extending it invisibly by several inches. As one of the most powerful wind-nature users in the world, with the most destructive Fuuton ninjutsu in the world, he had a high proclivity for that skill.

He slashed in a surprise move, knocking the sword out of the hand of the Kakashi clone, before rolling down the pile of rubble underneath the clone's legs and slashing an extended sword as he did. The clone's back was torn apart in a burst of smoke, and as he finally popped onto his feet, Kakashi was suddenly standing over him, holding the katana to his throat.

"Why did Naruto send clones here?"

The clone frowned. "He didn't. He left us behind."

Kakashi was incredulous. "How could shadow-clones have lived for this long? It's been weeks since he left!"

"Trade secret." The clone didn't move, but dispelled himself to avoid giving Kakashi the satisfaction.

* * *

The rush of information hit him hard, interrupting his studying of the two scrolls the same clone had sent just before. The seal that Maki had allowed him to copy lay beside them.

He couldn't help but feel something for his former sensei. He'd tried to close himself off to his feelings about the place that had only caused him so much trouble, but there were certain people in it that were special to him even now. Kakashi-sensei was one of them.

He had to hand it to his clone for getting the information out there about Mizuki, Kabuto and Orochimaru; it hadn't occurred to him, but his clone had thought of it. It could turn into an entire mess in Konoha if the spy was discovered, as well as his connection to Danzo, which could only help the village as far as Naruto was concerned. He'd gotten other information from other clones as well, some of which could be useful. His other primary goal with leaving clones would be how to handle the Uchiha, but so far, it was difficult to get close to any of them. As much as he touted that his Henge was near-perfect, he didn't want to try that against someone as skilled as Itachi Uchiha.

Hearing Kakashi say that he was a Missing-Nin though was hard to swallow. It was necessary, and he couldn't just go running back to the village now. He'd have to complete his quest, and there was no such thing as a second do-over. His fellow jinchuuriki didn't deserve the treatment that they had received, and Gaara was a testament to that.

The conspiracy against the boy's life with Yashamaru's mission was going to happen, he just didn't know when. With the most recent outburst, Naruto was scared it would be soon. He just had to remain extra vigilant and keep trained eyes, disguised as others, on Yashamaru at all times.

* * *

Kakashi stood before the Hokage, watching the wizened old man's frown lines deepen at his story. The ANBU member hated this; he hated  _everything_  about this, but it was deceptively easy to separate himself from it. All he would have to do is slip the reinforced mask over his face, and any emotions he supposed he should feel about the child of his former sensei dissipated.

Kakashi imagined that the Hokage felt the same way. The two men in the Hokage's office had each been tasked with protecting people close to Minato at one time, but the silver-haired shinobi had tried to stay away from Naruto himself. As far as he knew for Hiruzen, the older man had tried to foster a relationship with the boy, and all of this was too sudden.

"Could this actually be true, Hokage-sama? Could this Kabuto person be a spy for Orochimaru?" asked Kakashi. The man remembered his last run-in with the man, and it had not been a fun one.

The man didn't know what to say. "It's possible. But do we really have the ability to trust anything the boy says?" After a long time where no one said anything, the man frowned again. "What do you think about the Council's suggestion?"

Kakashi had pondered it quite a bit, but it was all inconclusive. "Barring the fact that he should have no experience, there wasn't anything weird about fighting the clone. He was as good as any jonin. More likely an exceptional chunin. But he was clearly holding back. There was nothing fox-like about him though, and no evidence that he used any of its chakra."

The Hokage pondered it for another long moment, blowing into his pipe. His knuckles were white against the edge of the table, like he was trying to grip it to stay safe. "It could all be a ploy. Gekko's testimony is damning; this was merely a clone after all, and perhaps the Kyuubi's chakra sticks with the original. He might not have been able to transform."

"It's possible," the silver-haired ANBU explained, staring at the man from behind his mask. "I doubt there would be a difference though. If the fox has taken him over, the chakra would probably be just as evenly split among the clones; he's hidden from the Sharingan and the Byakugan for that very reason. But Hokage-sama, why would the fox stay human if it has taken over Naruto? Wouldn't it just rip open the seal and unleash itself?"

The older man just frowned, uncertain. Angry. Inconsolable. After a brief hesitation, he looked up. "Find the clones still in the village and eliminate them. Every available person in the village of chunin level or above will be on this. His Henge can't be _that_  good."

* * *

The sun was nearly setting, and everyone was getting ready to enjoy the celebration. The end of the year was upon them, and all of Suna was ready to celebrate. Naruto had noticed the tiny differences in the way they celebrated from the way that Konoha would celebrate. Sunagakure was a little more reserved, more calm and relaxed. Naruto himself was trying to be relaxed, but something kept nagging at the back of his mind.

Gaara's birthday was in January, and he would be turning seven. The conspiracy happened while the boy was six years old, and the blonde doubted that had changed. Would it happen tonight? Tomorrow? Two weeks from now? Or had he prevented the conspiracy altogether?

He shook his head, wondering if the last few weeks had made any difference. Over time, he had managed to be around the redhead more and without incident. Even the boy's siblings seemed to be warming up to their little brother, only through Naruto's influence. He was truly making a difference, and that felt good.

Another wave of memories hit him like a ton of bricks, forcing him to stop in the middle of the marketplace. His last clone in Konoha was just dispelled, and it had happened so fast that he didn't know who had attacked him. He held a hand over his chest, feeling the slight phantom pain from being impaled by a kunai. He gulped and continued walking forward, wishing that he had gotten more good out of leaving clones behind.

Sealing chakra inside seals to make the clones last longer felt like a waste here, and it was obvious to him that there had to be ways to prolong that effect even further. The clones he had sent had not had a grander purpose than gathering intelligence, especially about the Uchiha's upcoming plans. The last clone had been destroyed not far from the Uchiha Clan's compound after all.

Still, he had to hope that the note a clone left Shikaku Nara would make a difference. It was encoded heavily, but he used a distinct kind of code that only a friend of the Nara Clan would know to use. The man's brain was staggeringly brilliant, and if anyone could figure out a way to prevent the Uchiha uprising from happening, as well as the Uchiha Massacre from happening, it would be him.

Naruto didn't really know what good it would do to try to stop the Uchiha from being exterminated, but it had a chance of preventing the road that Sasuke and Itachi had travelled. Without the latter, the Akatsuki would have lost a powerful ally and it would have greater problems for Obito's overall plan as well. The Uchiha were a powerful force to be reckoned with, and perhaps Naruto's intervention could prevent their destruction and allow the village to retain their power.

The blonde kept walking, heading toward the house where Gaara had grown up. He passed the road that led to the Kazekage's mansion, heading instead through an alleyway until he found the small, isolated building where Gaara lived with his uncle. Naruto was surprised that Temari and Kankuro visited at all, but they never acted like it was for their younger brother.

Naruto knocked once, already knowing that Gaara was home. He could sense the other jinchuuriki inside; even if he couldn't, it was very rare that Gaara would be outside of the house at this time of day.

When the uncle opened the door, a slightly annoyed expression filled the man's face. "What do you want, Daichi?"

Naruto forced a grin on his face. "Hello, Yashamaru-san! Is Gaara home? I want to take him to the festival!" There was a shuffling from behind the door, but the tan-robed man turned to block the crack in the door so that the little boy couldn't look outside.

Naruto studied the man before him. The dark circles under his eyes, the tight frown across his face, a sheen of sweat on his palms... The order had already been given.

"I don't think that's a good idea. He's not feeling well tonight."

"All the better to bring him then!" Naruto tried, smiling but hiding his clenched fist. "Gaara-kun told me he's never seen one of these fireworks festivals up close before." He paused, realizing he wasn't convincing the man. In no way was the blonde going to leave this place without Gaara, if he had to burst in and take him now. How can he get Yashamaru away from him? "Besides, you never know what might happen. Gaara might never get the opportunity again."

The uncle's eyes widened immediately, pain filling them. He looked inside lightly before finally nodding. "Okay. Gaara, you're going to go with Daichi, but as soon as the fireworks is over, you're coming home."

The redhead was all smiles when he appeared from behind his uncle's cloak. "Thank you!" Yashamaru didn't say anything, just watched the boy round the corner. Naruto knew he would be following them as soon as he got the chance, but he had a limited window to make this happen.

Naruto gestured for him to follow, knowing he couldn't touch him to get him to come along faster. The sand blocked off anyone who tried. "Come on! Let's hurry. If you're lucky, Temari and Kankuro will be there!" The redhead's face lit up at hearing that, and it truly made Naruto sad.

Remembering the way that Gaara had been before pained him. Gaara had been calm and reserved, and partially insane from how terrible his life had been. This version of Gaara couldn't be farther from that; he still believed in the people around him, including his brother and sister. The two of them couldn't have been more horrible to him, but he still treated them with a hint of compassion. Naruto would ensure that that compassion would never leave him.

* * *

The festival site was filled with people; Yashamaru was glad that he wasn't on clean-up duty. A few weeks from now, Suna was holding the Chunin Exams. The great stadium, built straight from sandstone and steel, was filled to the brim with people. In the center of the field was a raised platform made of stone, where several people were waiting at cannons to unleash the show.

One of the corporate bigwigs from the Capitol was paying for the event and probably milking the money off of it too, and his guards surrounded him on that raised platform. Yashamaru was not a fan of that kind of greed, and it seemed like a terrible way to exploit one of the only holidays that mattered to their people.

From his vantage point, his cloak covering his brown flak jacket, the man could easily pick out Gaara and his friend Daichi, the two of them standing near each other. A healthy distance surrounded everyone else from the jinchuuriki, and he had no idea why Daichi was so bold. Gaara was dangerous, plain and simple, and no matter how many times Yashamaru had explained it, it obviously wouldn't make a difference. The blonde little boy was going to stick to his nephew like glue.

He studied the boy's hair and features, a small burst of chakra to his eyes to microscopically enhance his vision. Yashamaru had heard the report from Yura about Daichi and his sister Aime, and other than the fact that they were trained in interesting ways, he didn't find them incredibly suspicious. Or, Daichi anyway. Yashamaru had never met Aime, but apparently, she was extremely busy in the temple where Tsubasa had lived before he passed away a month ago.

Still, he knew that this was a matter of interest to him, especially because the boy had a serious death wish. In a fit of rage, no amount of improvement that Gaara had made would make a difference; the blonde would be the first to die, crushed by the sand of that beast.

He shook his head, swallowing hard. _No. Gaara would die first at my own hand. Tonight._

Yashamaru thought back to the Kazekage's orders, wondering if he would ever forgive himself after tonight.  _Assuming that I survive the night._  He ran a finger along the jacket and the obscured explosive tags he had hidden, plastered to his skin to be activated as a last resort.

At least then he wouldn't have to forgive himself.

* * *

Gaara continued to stare the clear sky, ready for everything to start. Daichi stood next to him, the grin never leaving his face, as they tried to enjoy themselves. The crowd stood away from him, the din of voices all around them loud enough.

"Don't worry about everyone else, Gaara-kun," the other boy said after a chubby woman nearly ran from the sight of him. "You won't have to deal with this much longer."

Gaara looked at the boy after the cryptic saying, a twinge of fear running through his mind. "What do you mean?"

"I'll tell you later. Let's just enjoy the festivities. I saw some food stands over there." Daichi beckoned him to follow, and as the crowd parted before the two of them, most people were gaping in fear, clutching their bags. Any shinobi around them seemed to be prepared to attack him at any moment.

 _Just focus on Daichi. Drown out everything else, and focus on him. He won't hurt me like the others._  Gaara stared ahead at the other boy's face, and had to mentally ignore the sound of Mother's voice disagreeing with him. He knew that Daichi wouldn't hurt him; he had to believe that!  _You're wrong, Mother! Yashamaru and Daichi will keep me safe!_

The first dango stand they found had a relatively short line, despite the huge line. "I'll order it for you. Just stay here." The blonde smiled and then headed toward the line.

Gaara watched him order, ignoring the flood of people behind him, still waiting. The moon was rising in the sky, and he had to force the voice out of his head once more.

"Mom, when can I get to bed?" a small little boy with dark hair cried out, passing Gaara and not noticing him. The boy rubbed his eyes like he was exhausted, his other hand holding onto his mother's hand.

"Don't worry honey, we'll be home soon. Don't you want to see the fireworks? They are starting soon!" The little boy seemed to have forgotten about the display, and his excitement returned. Gaara didn't avert his eyes until the two of them disappeared back into the throng of people, frown extending.

"What's got you so down?"

"The better question is why he's here and not at home. Isn't it past your bedtime, Nii-chan?"

Gaara whirled around to see his two siblings, and he half-smiled. "Daichi brought me here. He's getting us dango right now." The blonde boy in question was at the front of the line now, producing money to pay for the order. "I'm sure he can order you some too."

Temari ran a hand down her front. "I've already eaten, and I need to watch my figure anyway for the guys."

Kankuro mock-puked. "Geez, Temari, you're seven years old. Anyway, let's go get a good spot."

His brother and sister disappeared into the crowd, and he would have joined them if Daichi wasn't right there. The dango was excellent, and Gaara realized that he was content.

"Content" was the right word. "Happy" didn't seem descriptive enough, but he was far from "sad." He was just "fine." Having people who cared about him around him was enough.

When the fireworks finally began, Gaara was mystified by the bright colors exploding into different shapes. Several Suna shinobi leaped onto the platform and whirred through complex hand-seals, before sending guided flaming multi-colored missiles of light that added to the already complex display. Everyone was in awe as the show ended with the symbol of their village, an hourglass, exploding into view.

"That's ironic," Gaara heard Dacihi mutter under his breath.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

The other boy seemed to catch himself before shaking his head. "Nothing. I just remember hearing something about Konoha ending a show like this with the symbol of the leaf. Must be common."

Gaara just laughed. "Probably. Thank you for showing this to me."

The other boy nodded. "Of course. I wouldn't have wanted you to miss it."

"I... should probably get back. Yashamaru is waiting on me."

The blonde boy shook his head, looking up and staring at something above Gaara's head. "I'm not sure if that's a good idea." When Gaara questioned him, Daichi frowned. "It's... not safe for you to go back to him."

"What do you mean?"

"Just trust me. Follow me, please. Do you know of a way out of the village?"

There was something wrong with Daichi and Gaara had no idea what it was. "I don't know what you're talking about. Daichi, is everything okay?"

"Please, Gaara, come with me. We need to get out of here tonight." Daichi made to grab him but the sand around him whirled to stop his hand. The blonde jerked back in split-second reflexes, but the damage was done.

"Gaara, I can't explain it to you right now, but can you please follow me? When have I ever steered you wrong?"

The boy had a point. The last few weeks had been some of the best in his life, and Daichi was the sole reason for it. Everything Yashamaru had said to him had been proven wrong time and time again, and this was no different. He had every reason to trust him, even though Mother's words were clear in his mind.

"Okay. I'll follow you."

* * *

Naruto pressed on, moving through the streets of Suna like it was nothing. Most of the people were still at the show and enjoying the festivities afterward, so the streets were incredibly empty. Any stragglers who were nearby fled from the redheaded boy following him.

"You hate that, don't you?" Naruto asked after seeing the third family disappear the moment Gaara passed. "Everyone running from you, treating you like a monster."

Gaara didn't even hesitate. "Yes, I do. Why are they afraid of me, Daichi? Why are you different?"

Naruto smiled genuinely. "Because I see you as you are, not as what I expect you to be from the whispering around you. Gaara, do you know why they think you're a monster?"

The boy didn't respond immediately, but thought about it as they continued moving forward. "Temari says it's because I'm a jinduraki."

Naruto shook his head, grinning back at him. "'Jinchuuriki.' You're the container, Gaara, of the Ichibi, Shukaku. That voice you hear in your head? That's him."

The redhead nearly stopped moving. "Mother? How do you know about that? About all of this?"

Naruto was keenly aware of the empty street, an overpass above them connecting too buildings together. Something glinted ahead and his eyes widened. "I'll explain it all to you later, I promise. Where's the nearest gate again?"

Before Gaara could answer, something hurled through the air and Naruto jumped forward and grabbed it with one expert hand, halting its progress before it could even be registered by Gaara's sand. The redhead looked on in shock at the kunai that had been thrown right at him.

"Might as well reveal yourself, Yashamaru," Naruto said, looking at the man who was obscured from sight with some kind of ninjutsu. "I know you're there."

Gaara whimpered. "Yashamaru?" Naruto hated hearing the boy so hurt.

The man's jutsu faded, revealing his form. His face was covered by a veil, but Naruto knew it was him. Gaara continued to be in disbelief, but there wasn't enough time to be shocked.

"I didn't expect Yura's testimony to be true, to be honest. I thought it was your sister who had all the real skill." Gaara's stammering broke down upon hearing the voice.

"Not exactly," Naruto said. He hadn't even thought about Aime in a long time.

"It really doesn't matter. My orders are clear."

Naruto nodded. "I can respect that. But why don't you show your face to your nephew? If you're going to fail to kill him tonight, I think it would be better for him to watch you try."

The man didn't say anything, and several kunai lifted into the air around him, pointed at the two boys.

Naruto scoffed at the use of that technique, but the skill level required for it was off the charts. "Your chakra control is so good that you bypass the use of chakra strings, and are able to instead suspend objects in mid-air with a field of your charka. That's a rare ability that takes a lot of training to even work. I guess you're really an Iryo-nin?"

The medical shinobi stayed silent and fired the kunai once more, three heading right for him. Naruto released a seal and instantly brought out his blade with a puff of smoke, flickering through movements and stopping them all. Yashamaru didn't move, however, and the same kunai lying on the ground whirled around to attack from all sides.

Naruto substituted as Gaara's sand enveloped him to protect him, still unsure and afraid of what was happening. Naruto dashed forward from behind Yashamaru, looking at the log that had been impaled by the shinobi's cloud of knives. "Come on now! You can do better than that!"

Yashamaru jumped away from Naruto's diagonal slash, before throwing out his hands. But the attack missed wide, the blonde barely having to dodge them. The Suna shinobi's combination of hand-seals was unfamiliar to him, but as it ended, he heard the chakra whir to life surrounding him.  **"** I have you now!  **Raiton: Kaminari Shibari (Lightning Release: Thunder Binding)!"**

A triangular prism made of lightning chakra burst to life around Naruto, connected to the ground by the three kunai he had thrown earlier in preparation. Yashamaru turned away, sure that the boy wouldn't be able to escape, before preparing to launch a full assault on Gaara.

"What are you doing? Why are you attacking me?" The redhead asked, tendrils of sand stirring up to his waist. "Let Daichi go!"

The man held a ring of kunai suspended in mid-air, blazing to life with lightning chakra. "I'm going to show you the true meaning of pain, Sabaku no Gaara!" The second that the kunai launched like spears of deadly accuracy, fast enough that Naruto was sure they would cut right through his defenses, a blast of wind in the shape of a fist slammed from the side and stopped the attack.

 **"Fuuton: Senpuuken (Wind-Release: Whirlwind Fist)!"**  The Suna shinobi whirled around in shock to see the Naruto underneath the lightning barrier disappear in a blast of smoke, a second Naruto rushing at him from the side. "You wouldn't have kept me from cutting right through that barrier with wind chakra, even if it had been the real me!"

"A shadow-clone?!" Yashamaru parried the first strike of the boy's tanto, but Naruto proved it was a feint, his other hand moving to strike him in the gut with a hidden kunai.

Instantly, both Naruto and the boy's uncle were grabbed around the middle and halted, sand constricting their movements. Gaara held them both up, hand in front of him. "No! No more fighting!" Naruto watched the sand pressurize on Yashamaru's lower half, a move he had seen several times in his lifetime.

The shinobi screamed in agony before falling to the ground in front of Gaara, stunned and in literal shock. Blood trickled from his mouth, and he was sure to die in the next few minutes. Naruto managed to get his hands free, putting up a simple hand-seal and bursting wind chakra from his tenketsu. The move was easy enough to get him free, blowing away the sand and allowing him to get away before the unstable boy tried to kill him too.

"I'm not going to attack again," Naruto shot up defensively as the boy's powers threatened to ensnare him once more. "It's over Yashamaru. Leave the boy alone; this village and its people aren't good to him. Maybe I can send for help so you can recove-" He hadn't really meant it, but the option for recovery died in his throat.

Gaara ignored the option, something odd flickering behind those eyes; a small amount of killing intent filled the air, causing Naruto's throat to clench involuntarily.  _Is this the first sign of the bloodlust that will claim him if I don't stop it?_ "No!" The boy walked forward and pushed up the cloth covering most of the man's face, revealing Yashamaru. Immediately, Gaara backed away in shock and dropped to his knees, stunned. "What is happ- happening? Why?!"

The sandstorm whirred to life around the Ichibi jinchuuriki, his hatred filling the air and tears dotting his eyes, running down his face. Naruto had to back away to avoid it, the sheer mass spiraling out of control. If Gaara wasn't careful, he would tear away the entire landscape and leave the village in sunken desert ruins.

"Why? Why, Yashamaru?!" Gaara repeated, clutching his forehead. "Why would you do it? I don't understand! Tell me why!" The man turned to look at him fondly, unable to move anything more than a single arm. "I-I thought I was pre-precious to you! How could you?!"

The man looked away. "It was an order. You see, I was ordered to kill you, Gaara, by Kazekage-sama, your father." Fresh tears dropped to the ground, as the sandstorm subsided.

Naruto walked up to the man and sat at Gaara's side. "Why did you choose to go along with it? Why follow orders if it meant attacking your own nephew!? You're the only other decent person in his life, but you threw that away because daddy needed a shiny new kunai to throw at his enemies!"

Yashamaru regarded him for a moment. "You aren't who you say you are, are you?"

Gaara continued to cry, his hands bunched into fists. "My own father?"

"Jinchuuriki are the greatest weapons in the shinobi world, Gaara," Naruto explained before Yashamaru could. "The villages have sought to use them to impose balance among the Great Nations. This system cannot survive as it is." Naruto thought back to Nagato's speech, to Jiraiya's words, to Sasuke's mission. Each of them wanted to end the system in different ways, but none of them could ever understand how it felt to be a jinchuuriki. To be hated and manipulated... it would break even the strongest of people. "I want to forge a new path for the world, one that doesn't rely on them to survive."

"A realistic impossibility." Yashamaru coughed up blood suddenly, some of it landing on Gaara's hand. The boy stared down at it in terror before Naruto reached over and wiped it away, a sympathetic smile on his face.

"All these years, you have been watched and studied as part of a great experiment, Gaara. It became clear that you could never control it," explained Yashamaru, "the Shukaku that possesses the power of the sand itself. The day is coming when your existence will be too dangerous for the village. It had to be done before then."

Naruto scoffed. "Bullshit."

Gaara ignored him. "You had to obey my father. You didn't have a choice." It was not quite a question, but it sounded like the boy was trying to justify the man's actions.

"You're wrong. I had a choice," Yashamaru said, Naruto's own rage beginning to grow.

"So you could have said no, but didn't?" Naruto asked. "It's just like I said earlier! You wanted this! You wanted to kill him, didn't you?!" The blonde remembered what he knew of Gaara's back-story, of his mother being the jinchuuriki before Gaara. "You hate this boy for the death of your sister!"

Gaara's eyes went wide, staring at the blonde in shock. "Mother?"

Eventually, Yashamaru looked up again and stared at the moon overhead. "Yes. My sister died bringing you into this world, and those wounds of the heart never heal! You and the demon deserve to die!"

The second he was finished, Naruto sensed the surge in chakra and in a burst of split-second speed, he launched himself in front of the boy and held out his arms. Instantly, the sand whirled around both of them to protect them from Yashamaru's suicidal explosive tag-filled undershirt. The bright flash of light and heat incinerated everything around them for several meters, unable to effect the chakra-imbued sand.

It took a long moment for anyone to say anything, but after several seconds, Gaara wrapped his arms around the boy for a comforting hug, sand falling away to reveal that neither of them had a scratch. Naruto smiled lightly, knowing he had made a difference. The sand wasn't attacking him, didn't perceive him as a threat. He had finally reached the boy. The redhead cried into his shoulder for several seconds, and Naruto knew he had to make his move then.

He tagged the boy's shoulder with a paper seal, instantly putting him into a deep slumber by disconnecting him from the normal flow of his chakra, as well as the Ichibi. It would leave him out of it at least long enough for Naruto to get them out of the village. He had a very limited amount of time before every ANBU and jonin in Suna would be looking for Gaara at the source of the explosion, and he couldn't afford for another of the boy's episodes.


	4. Shared Sigils

The humidity on the northern border was almost impossible to ignore; such a far cry from the dryness of the desert that it seemed impossible to go from one extreme climate to another. The deep jungle was stretched before them, thicker than even Hi no Kuni's forests. The wildlife was dangerous, filled with odd plants and poisonous insects that Shino would probably love to conscript into his army.

He wondered how far away he was from one of the outposts of Kusagakure, the only hidden village in the Elemental Nations to not have a static headquarters. Rather, they had several places where they called home, the leadership of the land rotating among the outposts and small towns. The place was a frequent battleground in conflicts between the Great Nations that bordered it, and he supposed their geography made it more difficult to stop the leadership of the village because no one knew where to find them.

Naruto found the thickest tree he could, jumping into its branches and finding a safe place for both of them to sit, already planning how to fortify their position in case the locals decided to stop them. He'd been running nonstop with an unconscious redheaded jinchuuriki on his back since the night before, and he couldn't imagine feeling any more winded than he was just now.

He placed Gaara on the branches in a position where he was unlikely to roll off in his deep slumber, and he was conflicted. On the one hand, waking him up now would be a good idea. On the other hand, he had no idea how the boy would react to being out of the village. It had dawned on him very early on, the moment that he silently dispatched the guards outside the gate, that he was kidnapping Gaara.

He stared at the boy's form as he absently twirled shinobi wire in his hand, already preparing to create a ring of kunai traps around their perimeter, far enough away he would be able to sense it, but not so close the enemy would immediately guess where he was.

The paper tag sticking the boy's arm was the only thing keeping him asleep, isolating the influence of the Ichibi's chakra. He'd had to replace the tag twice already along the way, before the sand could instinctively strangle him when the jinchuuriki finally regained consciousness.

Naruto brushed away the tiny, invisible layer of sand that had been trying to bore into his wrist for the last thirty minutes.  _The Ichibi is stirring..._

He made an absent hand-sign, sending several clones to work his trap magic, while he ran through his supplies. He had a few more minutes before the seal would lose its effects, but now that they were out of the desert, Naruto was sure the boy would be a minimal threat awake, if it came to that.

The blonde was still hoping, perhaps naively, that he had gained Gaara's trust over the past several weeks, and that it would make a difference now. If the situations were reversed, and someone had kidnapped Naruto from the village when he was only a few weeks under seven years old, he was sure he would have wanted to gut them and then brag about it on the playground to Sasuke. The thought of it made him smirk, but he was so far removed from that life now that he didn't think it was possible.

But Naruto couldn't know that the redhead would react the same way, and he had to prepare for how he was going to handle the situation. If Gaara's trust was broken now, and he still felt allegiance to the village and to his father even after all of the horrible treatment he had receive, he had to figure out what to do next.

The boy calmly breathed back and forth, a minuscule cloud of dust swirling in and out with every breath. The redhead's pale neck was exposed, the jugular in reach of a kunai. The future couldn't happen; he wouldn't let it. If he had to end his mission prematurely, before he successfully gained even one of the jinchuuriki to his cause, then he would never forgive himself. The Akatsuki's plans would certainly be put off with the Ichibi's time for resurrection, but it wouldn't be enough for Naruto to feel satisfied.

Naruto swallowed once. Gaara would live and would join him. That was the only option he was going to put his perhaps naive hopes on.

* * *

Temari stared out the window at the tiny house down the street, in perfect view from her window in the mansion. Fresh tears flowed when she remembered her uncle, and the choking sobs were for her brother.

Kankuro tried not to say anything, drawing feverishly to alleviate his thoughts, but even he could feel it. Nausea, pain, and grief filled both of them, albeit in different degrees. He patted her on the back, but she shrugged him off.

"No. I won't sit here like this worrying about him." She went to grab her battle-fan, hoping to find Daichi and wondering if he could help her train to set her mind. Kankuro stepped in her path and gestured for the door.

The blonde girl with four pigtails whirled around to see her father standing there just inside the room, no sign of true emotion on his face. He looked solemn, but not remorseful or sad. "I don't want to talk to you, Tousan."

The man frowned. "This is important."

The tone threw both of the siblings off, and it was Kankuro who mustered his courage first. "Is there any news about Gaara?"

The Kazekage took a moment of hesitation before he nodded. "Yes. His body was found dead this morning in the Southern District of the desert. I sent Baki to collect the body for an autopsy."

Temari felt all of her tears and anger explode at once, and she slammed a fist against the door next to her. When the adrenaline faded, she would regret that, she was sure.

"So Yashamaru attacked him, committed suicide, and then Gaara fled the village?" asked Kankuro, trying to piece the puzzle together. "Then someone killed him?"

The Kazeakage nodded slightly. "Yes."

"What about Shukaku?" asked Kankuro, and Temari grit her teeth in anger.

"What the hell, Kankuro? Our brother is dead! Can't you see him as anything else but a jinchuuriki?!"

Their father calmly cleared his throat to stop the bickering, before looking at the two of them. "All of those questions will be handled later. Today is a day of mourning."

Temari looked at the man incredulously. "Really? You of all people?" Every single moment of neglect and torment that she had witnessed from her father to his youngest son bubbled to the surface of her mind. "You hated him! You never cared about him, and you would never mourn him!" The Kazekage just laughed calmly, confusing her completely. "I'll bet you planned that attack! You forced our uncle to attack our bother!"

Kankuro interjected. "Temari, stop thi-"

"No. She's right." Immediately, the room froze. Kankuro broke into a sweat in his shock, eyes red from hidden tears. Temari couldn't stand this. "I ordered Yashamaru to kill the boy."

Temari stared incredulously at her fath- no, the Kage of the village. That was all he had become, and she had figured out his motives without even trying. "He couldn't control it, so you told Yashamaru to wipe him out before he was a threat." She paused to wipe a tear away from her face, gritting her teeth and swallowing. "But you didn't expect it to work, did you? You wanted to turn him into a weapon by having everyone he cared about betray him, for the beast to use his hatred against our enemies!" She suddenly ran at her father, preparing her fist by gathering whatever meager amounts of chakra she could muster in her state.

The man did not move, but in the instant where she was about to hit him, the Kazekage latched onto her wrist and pulled her arm around her back, kicking her away. The blonde girl landed in a heap at Kankuro's feet, crying out in pain from the kick to her side, her elbow and wrist throbbing.

"The two of you are insolent fools. I don't expect you to understand the intricacies of shinobi politics, nor my motives. You're just kids after all. But you will see that what I did was good for the village."

 _Bullshit..._ Temari thought, hatred filling her.

"You're one to talk, Temari," the man said, confusing both of his children. "And you as well, Kankuro. It's easy to pretend you have moral superiority, that my actions are  _depraved_  and that you think you have a right to judge. But do you?" He walked into the room and gestured out the window at their younger sibling's isolated former home. "You hated Gaara as I did, treated him like he was nothing; there is no sense in arguing with me, because that was how  _he_  felt. He talked with Yashamaru at length about how the two of you acted around him and your other friends, pretending he didn't exist. He was more alone alive than he will be in death."

Temari didn't know how to react to that, but eventually Kankuro answered for her. "But Tousan, we didn't send an assassin after him!"

The redheaded man raised an eyebrow. "Of course not. You're just children without the means to do so. But in the past, both of you have essentially pretended that he doesn't exist... How can you even be angry at the fact that he's dead? Didn't you get what you wanted all along?"

* * *

Gaara shook himself awake and almost immediately sensed something was wrong, before he ever opened his eyes. His skin was sticky and open to the world, his thicker clothes wet with sweat. He opened his eyes and immediately realized he was sitting in a tree, surrounded by overgrown foliage. He was momentarily amazed by the different leaves; he'd never seen that much variety before.

Daichi waved lightly at him, a few feet separating them on the tall branches. "Hey. Good morning. Err.. afternoon."

All of it came rushing back to him at once. The festival, Yashamaru's attack, and Daichi... He stared at the boy before him completely confused, before something else hit him hard.

"How... how did I sleep?" The foreign feeling of what had to be restfulness spread throughout his body. "I never sleep."

The other boy raised a slip of paper gingerly, pointing to the intricate seals decorating it. Gaara couldn't even begin to describe the sigils and elements on the paper. "I put one of these on you when we fled the village. It separated your chakra from Shukaku's for a few hours at a time, and you almost instantaneously fell asleep. Your body made up for lost time, I guess."

"Right," Gaara nodded; although he still had no idea how the boy before him could do such a thing, there were other things to talk about. "Where are we?"

"Past the border, about twenty miles from one of Kusagakure's settlements," explained Daichi. Gaara stared at his face in absolute confusion.

"We... aren't in Kaze no Kuni anymore?"

The boy shook his head. "I've never been much of a fan of deserts, to be honest. If we had stayed any longer, shinobi would have potentially discovered us much sooner. And that would not have been a good idea."

After a few short moments, Daichi cleared his throat. "You must have a few questions, don't you? Now is as good a time as any to come clean, right?" Gaara nodded, ready to hear it and lessen the amount of mystery and confusion surrounding him.

"My name isn't really Daichi; Daichi was an alias that I created to get into the village," the blonde explained, instantly causing Gaara to back away, shocked. His fingers gripped the tree branch harder, wishing he had the comfort of his sand around him. As dangerous as the sand was for others, it had become one of the only stable things in his life.

"What? What's your real name?"

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki," explained the boy, a small grin spreading across his face. "I know you probably are thinking a lot of things, but I want you to know that I will never intentionally harm you. I might have lied to you about who I was, but I had to keep my identity a secret until I could get you out of there. I did it out of necessity, not because I wanted to deceive you."

A long moment passed where he considered this Naruto before him. The blonde had been good to him, better than perhaps any person he had ever known. A part of him, the trusting part, fully believed Naruto that he would never hurt him, but the other half of him was not convinced. Gaara continued to run through questions, deciding on the most important ones. "Why did you need to lie to get into the village? And how do I know you aren't lying right now?"

"I guess you don't." Naruto looked over him with a smile. "The answer to your other question is a bit more complicated, but the short version is that I wanted to get you out of Sunagakure."

Gaara raised an eyebrow. "Why? Why would you take me away from my home?"

Naruto frowned, unsure of how to proceed, before finally clearing his throat. "You and I share something, a special kind of status that only a few people in the world share. I am the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, Gaara." The Suna native's eyes widened. "I have a chakra beast sealed inside of me too." He pointed to the whisker marks on his cheek. "My mother had the Kyuubi when she was pregnant with me, and that's where these come from. Those markings around your eyes? Your mom was the same way."

Gaara pressed a finger to his face, tracing the black lines around his eyes. He had always attributed it to severe sleep deprivation; well, that's what Yashamaru always said. He wasn't sure whether to believe anything that his uncle had ever said to him now.

"Jinchuuriki are often treated horribly by the people of the village," Naruto explained. "They are viewed like monsters, like demons. People are too stupid to realize that we aren't just walking representations of the Bijuu inside us."

Everything Naruto was saying added up, Gaara realized. He had lost count of the number of times that someone had called him demonic, or a monster, or feared for their lives around him even when he was calm. More often that he cared to admit, in the few short years of his life, the sand had proven that status true in the eyes of the villagers and shinobi alike.

"I was ignored. I was isolated. I had no friends, no family; my clan's village was wiped out a long time ago," Naruto said, solemn. "I had no one who cared for me, because everyone treated me like I was less than human, like I didn't deserve to be loved. From the look on your face, you know the feeling too, don't you?"

It took a few moments for Gaara to finally nod. It was surreal, seeing someone who shared the same burden and understood what he was saying. Gaara wasn't one hundred percent sure whether or not to believe him, but he had no real reason to doubt the person who had cared for him when no one else did.

"So I had to rescue you from the village," Naruto finally said, cracking a smile. "Did you mean what you said that day we met? About how you didn't want to be lonely anymore?"

Gaara looked up at him, remembering the conversation easily. It was one of the only times that someone had been genuinely good to him, had paid him any attention. Compared to his family, those people who were supposed to be close to him, Daichi had proven to be closer than anyone else. Now Daichi was revealed to be a lie, and every survival instinct in his bones told him to run far from here, to run back to the village.

It hit him then, like a figurative slap to the face. His village wasn't home anymore. All of Sunagakure would be happy to be rid of him, even Temari and Kankuro. They were safer now without him, the monster that plagued their streets. Without Yashamaru, he was sad to admit that he didn't feel it.

He looked down at his hands, staring at them and watching as the sand slowly accumulated around him, trying to recreate his sand armor after losing access to the Shukaku. He thought about Naruto's words, and their conversation before.

Daichi might be gone, but Naruto was the same. He had the same look in his eyes, the same grin on his face, even if it felt different now, like some kind of mask had been removed. Gaara suddenly locked eyes with him, realizing that Naruto meant him no harm, that he was safe with him.

"Yes. I meant every word."

The blonde smirked. "You won't have to be lonely ever again."

* * *

Yura stared blankly at the corpse in front of him. A small redheaded boy, face marred like he had been attacked by some beast, was lying face-down, a crowd of small merchants having broken away from their caravan to watch the scene. Dried blood caked the sand, and he wanted to puke at the smell.

Baki must have had similar thoughts, Yura realized, but the other Jonin simply ignored them and prepared to pick up the body and carry it back to the village."They were right; this is him."

"Was there ever any doubt?" asked Yura.

Baki nodded. "The Kazekage wasn't sure it could be him. The autopsy will confirm it." He pressed his fingers to the boy's skin, watching as the remnants of the boy's sand armor fell away. "Yeah. It's him."

"Who killed him? Or what?"

Baki shook his head, sighing. "I don't know. It looks like he got into a fight with some animal. The Kazekage will want to just drop it, I think."

Yura frowned at the implications that the leader of their village would just forget about his son. "Really? How can the man be like that to his own son?"

Baki shared his glance. "He's always been like that. Cold and calculating; he's an excellent Kazekage, but not such a great father. He was the one who caused Gaara to flee the village after all."

Yura nodded. "Something just doesn't add up about all of this though."

"Just drop it," the man said. "Seriously, Yura, leave it alone. The boy is dead, the Ichibi lost. We'll catch it in a few years when it manages to regenerate. You know it doesn't take very long in the desert."

The man finally nodded, but the unease didn't go away. He looked over his shoulder at a nearby dune, staring and feeling like he was being watched. It proved to be just a feeling though, that faded away as quickly as it appeared.

* * *

"So where are we going?" asked Gaara after they rested for another thirty minutes, talking absently and trying to avoid the subject.

Naruto knew where he needed to go next, but he wasn't on a strict time table anymore. Gaara was the only strict time table he knew of, and based on the memories he could only barely access, the Gobi and the Nanabi were captured first, around four years from that point.

Ideally, tackling the Sanbi next would be the best option, because the Bloodline Rebellion hasn't started yet, and Yagura was at the center of all of that. But Yagura was a problem he didn't want to face yet, due to the Mizukage's much closer connection to Akatsuki. Even if he wanted to get it over with now, Mizu no Kuni was nearly on the opposite side of the world, and it would take far longer to get there than he really wanted to admit.

"We're going to stick here for a little while, I think," Naruto explained after another moment of thought. He still had clones that were on their last legs, spread throughout the map to hide their actual position from any Konoha ANBU trying to follow him. They'd lasted long enough already, without getting into skirmishes, unlike the clones he had had stationed in Konoha. If there was one thing his time in Suna had done, he had regained his reserves to nearly their full level. "I don't really know much about Kusa, and the jungle seems interesting."

Gaara brushed his sweaty hair out of his eyes. "I hate it here. It's too wet. I hope we aren't here for too much longer."

Naruto smiled. "I'm sure we won't be. My plan to save all of us is a little more flexible now, and we have several options. But we need to stay in one place for a little while, because I need to work on something."

"What?" Gaara asked, his face skewed with confusion. "And what do you mean by 'all of us'?"

"The plan is to find all of our fellow jinchuuriki." The blonde raised his shirt, channeling a small amount of chakra and displaying the black spiral on his stomach. "But we need to stay here to work on your seal."

Gaara studied his own belly. "I don't have one of those."

"Well, you do, your sealing matrix just isn't visible like mine," explained Naruto. "This thing is what keeps the Kyuubi inside. You've got one too for the Ichibi, but the difference is that your seal is not as compatible with your own chakra system as mine is. But I have a way to fix that, I think, I just need time."

Gaara didn't know what to say to that, so he sat in silence, looking around from their perch in the trees. But Naruto could see the agitation on his face, the quiver in his breathing.

"Don't worry. I know what I'm doing," he explained. "This won't be like the others when they tried it, I just haven't tested this kind of modification seal before."

It was true, unfortunately. There hadn't been any jinchuuriki around to test them on other than himself in his old time, and the seal that Maki had showed him was still fresh on his brain. He was fully prepared to have to meld the two to make the seals more stable when he integrated the new one into the old.

He remembered how painful it had been when Orochimaru had forced a mismatched seal on top of his former seal during the Chunin Exams, and he was not going to put Gaara through that. He knew that Suna had actively tried to change it over the years, but even though they were known for their Sealing Corps, they weren't particularly good at using their skills on the Bijuu.

Gaara eventually nodded, but he still looked scared.

"I promise this won't hurt you at all," Naruto assured him. "Actually, it'll probably help you. After it's over, you'll be able to sleep whenever you want."

The redhead looked at him with almost pleading eyes, like it was the best-sounding thing anyone had ever said to him. Naruto just laughed, but Gaara steeled himself. "It's not going to take long, is it?"

Naruto thought it over, and was honestly unsure. Fuuinjutsu was not his specialty, but he was probably currently the best at it aside from Jiraiya himself. And even then, he could probably teach the man a few things from his new perspective. Everything was essentially self-taught, and it probably would have gone over better in his old time if he had been able to preserve some of the Uzumaki techniques before Pain's invasion. Naruto knew he had some of that knowledge stored away in scrolls in his own pack now, and he needed to compile it all into his repertoire before attempting anything drastic like changing the formula of a jinchuuriki.

"I will give you a month," he explained finally. "We'll find a town here and settle down for a bit, and I'll work on this while we're there. If I can't get it done within the month, we'll leave this country behind and move on to somewhere else."

Gaara seemed relieved, trying to shake off the sweat and inadvertently spraying wet sand all over Naruto. The boy just laughed and tried to fight back, before remembering. "Oh, I have something for you, although it's probably impractical to give it to you now. I'm not sure if you're strong enough to carry it yet."

"Carry what?"

Naruto pulled a small storage scroll from his pack and opened it, almost immediately releasing something in a great puff of smoke. Naruto reached out to hold onto it, worried it would fall off the tree. The Konoha native couldn't help but snicker at Gaara's reaction to the brown gourd; there were so many memories flooding back to him. "I saved this for you back in Suna, weeks ago. I was going to wait until your birthday to show it to you, but the humidity is obviously bugging you."

"What is it?"

Naruto gestured for him to reach over and pop out the cork holding its contents inside. When the small boy opened it, sand started to rush in and slowly gathered around the boy's body, hugging him and forming a thicker layer than the one he had before. Instant relief seemed to flood his body after the sand color blended to match his skin tone.

"You needed better access to your sand, and this makes a good storage container for it," he explained. It wasn't the same gourd; this one had a thin blue stripe hugging the middle, and it was a little thinner than the one he carried before. But it was still much larger than a six, almost seven, year old could carry. "Although I suppose I should seal it away until we get you some strength training in."

Gaara shook his head, immediately slipping it onto his back and then standing up on the tree branch. "No, it's okay. I can hold it up by using my chakra."

Naruto nodded with realization that he could manipulate the sand to lessen the impact on his body to be stronger. "Okay, that sounds good. But you're still going to get some strength training in. You didn't have any formal training, right?"

"No." The boy hesitated, before looking at him in confusion. "Although you didn't either. How are you so skilled at your age?"

Naruto just grinned. "That's a bigger secret than I'm willing to share at the moment, but let's just say, I'm not as young as I seem."

"Are you a midget?"

Naruto frowned, face reddening. "No! Of course not!"

Gaara smirked. "Whatever you say, Naruto. You're pretty short for your age." Naruto wanted to feign anger, but he wasn't angry, really. Gaara only knew so much about his situation, and Naruto wasn't ready to spill the beans about time travel just yet. It sounded so ludicrous that he wasn't sure even a little kid would believe him.

* * *

The girl finally found what she was looking for, hoping to bring a whole batch to Aunt Kimiko to make her feel better. The red roses were the same shade as their shared hair color, and surely that was a good thing. She had to hope that the old woman wouldn't show discomfort when she remembered her own hair was now gray with age.

Careful to avoid the thorns, like she had always done, the girl reached down with expert hands and picked up several all at once, smiling brightly. She adjusted her glasses quickly to count them all, nine perfect flowers. She giggled at how awesome they were, before disappearing from the giant ventilated greenhouse.

"Hey, you can't steal th-"

"Sorry, I'll pay later!" the girl yelled, running around the corner and vanishing behind a crate outside a shop. There weren't many people around at this time of day, but she felt good about her small amount of Academy training on stealth. Trying to remember her lessons in an actual situation like this was difficult though, and she barely noticed a stray rose petal lying in the street beside her, in clear view of any pursuers.

A pretty man with long dark hair that reached the middle of his shoulders reached down and picked up the tiny rose petals, offering it to her. When she saw the man's face, the girl practically squealed with excitement.

She took them from him. "You're Mui! I can't believe it! I've always wanted to meet you!"

The man smiled at her, and she still couldn't believe she was talking to one of Kusagakure's top officials, in their town no less. "What are you hiding for, little one?"

"I'm bringing these to my aunt. She's sick, and the doctors say she's dying, but I don't believe them. I'm thinking these will make her feel better," she explained, gesturing to the roses. "Aren't they pretty?!"

Mui nodded, raising an arm to brush the hair out of his face and showing off the hitai-ate on his shoulder, showing the symbol of Kusagakure. The man's dark clothes betrayed his status as a shinobi, however, as the man looked to be dressed as a civilian. "Yes, they are very pretty. You run along, dear. Your aunt Kimiko's waiting."

The girl adjusted her glasses and watched him leave, a sense of his chakra running through her mind as she picked up and ran toward the hospital, watching the man leave and smirking over her shoulder. "I can't believe I just met Mui! He's so famous! His chakra is brighter than Keiko-sensei too! I bet Kimiko will be so jealous!"

As soon as she passed another corner, the girl barely registered another form of chakra on her peripheral that nearly made her stop, especially when she realized there were two of them. She turned to look toward the source, catching the glimpse of two boys walking in the opposite direction toward the outskirts of the village. One boy's hair was bright blonde, and the other was a darker shade of her own hair color. She wanted to call out to them, but there was something about their chakra that made her stop, too scared to keep looking.

Most chakra was varying shades of blue, but these two were different. They both had a red mixed into their blue, especially the redheaded boy with the strange gourd on his back. It didn't make any sense, but she made a mental note to ask someone about it. Although Kimiko acted like no one else would be able to understand how she mentally sensed chakra, not even her. It was a unique Uzumaki clan technique that no one else had, the  **Kagura Shingan (Mind's Eye of the Kagura).**

Either way, she didn't like the feeling she got around that red chakra; she didn't know how to describe it, and didn't want to. The girl hurried toward the hospital even faster than before, hoping to get out of range of that ugly chakra.

* * *

The Kazekage stared at the autopsy table, where Gaara's naked dead body lay. A tiny seal, shaped like some odd ornate triangle, lay on the base of its foot, and the doctors were currently analyzing it. "No one knows what this is, Kazekage-sama, and no one can remove it."

"It looks like someone killed him, not an animal like we initially thought," another explained. "Who would want to kill him and then leave a complex seal behind? And why?"

The leader of Suna scoffed. "Complex? It's a damn triangle, a standard three elements seal. Get someone from the Sealing Corps to analyze it."

The head examiner shook his head. "I'm afraid we already did, Kazekage-sama. The head of the Sealing Corps could not understand how a deceptively simple seal wouldn't be removed by any normal means."

The man eventually balked and walked out of the room. Knowing from afar that he was dead was easy for the man to handle, but seeing his body on the table was hard. Some small amount of concern had weaseled its way into his heart, and he wanted to crush it by reminding him that it was this boy that led to the death of Karura. He was frustrated that he couldn't undo this seal nor did anyone in the village have the means to do so, but eventually, he just accepted it.

He walked back into the room. "I want him cremated immediately." When the examiner tried to argue, the man just shook his head and pulled the body out of the room himself, wheeling it away on the cart.

The cremation room was not far from there, but as soon as he found it, he dumped the body unceremoniously on the floor inside and yanked the table back outside. The technician came up to him, confused. "Kazekage-sama, what are you-"

"Do it. Start it. Burn him to ash. Now!" The technician finally nodded and placed his hand on the panel outside, generating chakra. A seal ignited before the flames inside the room ignited, burning the body away as the boy's father watched from the small window. The foot was the last to catch, and after several more minutes, the Kazekage watched the seal burn away, until all that was left of the body was smoke.

The man stared at the window as the technician and the others walked into the room to retrieve the ashes, and it took several seconds before they popped back outside. "There's nothing left! It's impossible!"

But the leader of the village waved it off and walked away, closing that chapter on his life.

* * *

When Naruto and Gaara finally found a hotel room that would be willing to host two traveling orphans, Naruto sat at the desk nearly absorbed into thought.

He knew it was a possibility, but he couldn't imagine that it would actually happen. Gaara seemed to notice something was on his mind. "What's wrong?"

Naruto frowned, unsure of how much to say or how to say it, or if he was even going to say it. Eventually, he decided on a partial truth, not sure if he would ever explain the other. "My clan, the Uzumaki, were wiped out years ago, and I'm one hundred percent positive that I just found a survivor of it. I'll have to find her later."

Gaara looked on him with concern. "Yeah, maybe she could come with us!"

Naruto wasn't sure about that. He always imagined that when he started this journey to the past, he would find the jinchuuriki and stick with them, and only them. They were the only ones who truly understood each other.

But Karin was an Uzumaki, one of the last three in the world. The girl would be a viable asset, as well as family to him. That was something he always wanted, and while he was essentially trying to build that family through the jinchuuriki, would it really be so wrong to add her?

Gaara watched absently as Naruto ran through his scrolls on Fuuinjutsu theory, as well as practical versions of seals he was sure he'd find useful. He was so lost in thought that he barely noticed Gaara tracing some of them with his fingers.

"Are you interested in this stuff? It's difficult."

The boy shook his head. "No, I don't think so. I just like the shapes."

Naruto returned to his scrolls and went through some of the seals step by step, explaining them to the redhead as he went along. Gaara listened closely, despite not being interested; he knew from experience that Shukaku knew Fuuinjutsu, and it wouldn't be a bad idea to get the boy interested in it. Learning how to use seals was an unorthodox battle strategy, but it could be the deal breaker against a particularly tough opponent.

Naruto's smile was growing wider, watching the boy working with them. He realized very quickly that this was the most relaxed and content he had felt in a long time. After securing one jinchuuriki, his plan was moving forward, and even though it would take years, he was certain that he would succeed.

_I'm not gonna run away and I never go back on my word, because that is my nindou! My ninja way!_

Naruto chuckled from his thoughts, surprising Gaara. "Did I do something wrong?" He stared at the seal that the boy was tracing, not realizing that it was a doodle on a slip of paper of the triangular Clone Stabilization seal he had seen in his memories not moments ago.

"Of course not," he said with a grin, but part of him wondered if Gaara would ever forgive him for faking his death.


	5. Chained to Perdition

After only five days into their stay in Kusagakure, Naruto was honestly surprised that he and Gaara had not received more attention than they did.

He didn't have to look to know that he had observers, three of them if his ears were clear enough, and he was sure Gaara had never figured it out. But it didn't matter to Naruto they were watching; he had a strong feeling one of them had to be Karin. He was cautious, a certain tension in his shoulders that never left, and probably never would.

The training field they had found was surrounded on all sides by trees, a winding path through the dense jungle led back to the town. He had had Gaara doing chakra control exercises for what felt like hours, all without his signature weapon and greatest defense. The boy had quite a bit of control, but it was shaky and unfocused, especially when angry or frustrated.

"Why do I have to learn how to climb trees without using my hands, if I can just-"

Naruto cut him off, trying to communicate that they had had onlookers, who might could hear what they were saying. "It's important to learn the basics, step by step. I read about all this in a book, you know, and that author said that chakra control basics are important."

The redhead once again walked up the tree, settling on a branch to rest before moving onto the top. He got nearly to the top, but when the trunk became more and more narrow, he couldn't hold it up anymore, and had to slide down with his hands to avoid falling. "Ugh."

Naruto pointed to his pack for emphasis, holding up the combat needle. "Shinobi with the highest amount of control can stand with all of their weight on the end of one of these, and on top of water."

"Can you do that?" the redhead asked as he geared up to tackle the tree again.

"No, I don't think so," he admitted sheepishly. His control had increased tremendously from when he was young, but he doubted he could ever do that without a lot of effort and annoying training with his clones. That had always been something Sakura excelled with, and he had witnessed her do it effortlessly; it was one of the most important stages of training for medical shinobi.

"I know control is important," Gaara said, getting into a running stance. "It helps with all kinds of jutsu and makes every one of them more effective. So I'll do it without complaining."

"Make this the last one, and we'll move to the next bit."

He ran forward, leaping onto the tree and sticking, much like the many times he had tried. But again, as he approached the top, he couldn't keep the balance and fell once more.

"I promise I'll get it!" the boy said, grinning with determination, but Naruto frowned and shook his head.

"Not yet. Let me ask you a question." The redhead looked at him expectantly, but Naruto was trying to stall from teaching him anything more particular to him. He wondered if Gaara could sense that he was specifically trying to avoid showing anything more than the absolute basics, not that Gaara knew much more than that. "What is a shinobi's greatest weapon?"

The boy thought for a long time, his mind running through options. Naruto himself was nostalgic, remembering his childhood with a kind of longing he had only felt on the worst days of his adult life.

"Survival?" was Gaara's answer, before the boy looked up with more confidence. "You can't win against someone unless you can endure."

Naruto chuckled; it was certainly a better answer than a kunai. "Not a bad choice; that is certainly important. But the best weapon a shinobi can have is a clear mind, and the know-how to use it. What kinds of ways do you think you can use knowledge in a fight?"

The boy furrowed his brow for a moment. "Knowing your jutsu, your techniques that you can use to win."

Naruto smiled again, turning slightly to arc his head and staring intently at the bushes where the onlookers were watching. "Deception, even manipulation to a certain extent, is key to success."

"Lying?" asked the boy naively, before he seemed to look at Naruto with a new light like he understood why Naruto had been wrapped in a web of lies from the moment he met the other kid. "Is lying really that necessary?"

"Shinobi are more than just soldiers; they fill a multitude of roles, and some of those roles include espionage, or spying on others to gather intelligence. Knowing your enemy's secrets can be more valuable than any kind of jutsu you know." He turned away from their onlookers, remembering the intelligence he had been gathering for the past two days on Kusagakure's secrets was in his pack, transferred from a few well-hidden clones throughout the village. "Knowledge is power."

The boy seemed to understand the basics, but he still had a quizzical look on his face. "Okay. How do I implement that into my skillset?"

Naruto clapped the boy's back. "I have just the basic ninjutsu for you. Have you accepted the log as your lord and savior?"

* * *

Karin watched the two boys with interest and abject terror. The feel of their chakra was horrifying to even imagine, much less to see in her mental picture of the world. She had never seen something like it, and it had her completely worried. "Did they see us?"

The dark-haired Muku raised a hand, shaking his head. "No. We're cloaked by a genjutsu, and there's no way two little kids can see through that."

"I don't trust them," the girl beside her suddenly said, reaching a calm hand forward to adjust her lavender white hair out of her eyes. "Muku, are they spies?"

The boy with them scratched his green headband, his dark hair shimmering with sweat. "I don't trust them either, Ryuuzetsu. Karin has never been wrong about chakra before, but I don't know enough to say they are spying on anyone. What do you think Karin?"

"Isn't it weird enough they know the jutsu they know?" whispered the youngest, her glasses glinting lightly in the sunlight barely passing through the leaves. "They look like toddlers. Especially that blonde one. I am barely in the Academy, and we haven't done the kind of chakra control exercises that they are doing yet."

Ryuuzetsu looked between both of her friends. "Yeah, but maybe they are actually self-taught, like that guy said. It's not unheard of for people to learn some stuff on their own. It's not like they're shooting fireballs or something." She glanced back at the two of them. "I still don't trust them though."

Muku didn't seem impressed. "Maybe. We should probably wait til they leave and then go find da- Mui."

Karin stared at her friend, the eldest of them, as the two girls were completely prepared to follow his lead. After several more minutes of watching the two train to learn what seemed to be the Kawarimi no Jutsu, Muku finally gestured for them to leave.

Once they were clearly out of earshot, Ryuuzetsu turned to the boy. "Are you sure you want to try to tell Mui-sama? Maybe we could tell one of his advisors, or someone else?"

The boy looked down solemnly. "No. I need to face my father; I haven't spoken to him in person in months."

Karin had to avert her eyes away from him. She wasn't sure she understood why Mui was so cold to his son. It made her wonder what her own father had been like, but that was neither here nor there now. She had her aunt, and that was all that mattered.

* * *

"Are they gone?" Gaara finally asked, causing Naruto to raise an eyebrow in surprise.

"You could tell there was someone watching us too?" asked the blonde.

Gaara nodded, remembering the feeling of his sand permeating the battlefield and the atmosphere around him, giving him some kind of sixth sense for at least onlookers. "Yeah, there were three of them. I couldn't tell much else."

The blonde looked up at the sky. "I take it you used your sand? That gives us another option for your training, because knowing sensory techniques is never a bad thing; I know a couple myself. But I'm hoping that by the time we leave this village, we'll have the world's most powerful sensor." He paused. "Course, I guess that's debatable. The Byakugan is out there too."

Gaara was confused. "What do you mean?"

"Karin has a special technique called the  **Kagura Shingan (Mind's Eye of the Kagura)**. I don't know how skilled she is with it yet, but she can sense anyone's chakra potentially from miles away." He pointed at his stomach, where Gaara knew his seal was located. "She is strong enough that she can sense the Bijuu within us even when we aren't using their abilities, which is better than most other sensory ninjutsu."

 _That is useful,_ Gaara realized. "But what makes you think she's going to come with us? This is her home." He glanced to the west, hoping Naruto wouldn't notice. The blonde didn't comment on it when he finally turned back around.

"I'm still working on that too," explained Naruto, before grinning. "Now, let's see that substitution again." The kunai flew toward Gaara so quickly that he didn't have enough time to generate the chakra for the technique, his sand moving to intercept and grabbing the kunai before it could touch the boy's skin.

Gaara flinched out of instinct, slower than even his sand, which was a rather awkward delay. But before he could say anything, the kunai was sent hurtling back toward its owner, redirected by his defenses against his will.

Naruto didn't move, didn't flinch like Gaara had. The kunai embedded in his throat in a moment of horror, blood spilling on the ground. "No!"

"Yes," said a voice behind him, and he nearly freaked out as his sand moved to defend him instinctually. "Whoa! Turn back around, Gaara."

The redhead looked over his shoulder, watching as Naruto burst into smoke, revealing a log in its place with a knife where the throat would have been.

"You're fine, I'm fine. No big deal," the blonde behind him said, trying to soothe his worries. Gaara took a deep breath, worried that he had unintentionally hurt him, killed him even. His hands shook with terror. But the Naruto before him showed no signs of injury, just using replacing himself with the log at the last minute.

"I'm sorry, I didn't control it! I didn't mean for that to happen. Mothe-"

"Shukaku," Naruto corrected, eyeing him carefully.

Gaara took a deep breath. "Shukaku sent it back, I never intended to hurt you."

Naruto finally grinned. "I'm glad you have someone looking out for you, even if it's the giant tanuki inside your body." After a long moment where the only sounds were Gaara's efforts to control his breathing, the blonde raised a hand. "Do you want to try it again?"

The boy considered his options, but he was a little more than freaked out by what had happened. "I'm not sure if it will actually help with my skillset, though. Will I ever need to do that trick? No one has ever gotten through the sand to hurt me."

Naruto faced turned serious. "Just because no one has done it yet doesn't mean that no one will. I could easily tear through it here and now with a well-placed ninjutsu. Think about how this new jutsu could be useful in the event that that happens."

* * *

"What are the three of you doing here?" asked the man sitting with his legs crossed in front of an altar that looked like a Buddha with three faces, a ring of golden suns behind it. He kept his back to them, but Karin wished that he would turn around, for Muku's sake.

"We have some information you want to know about, Mui-sama," Ryuuzetsu began when Muku hesitated.

"What could two rookie genin and an Academy student have for me that would be  _remotely_  worth-knowing?"

Muku frowned and fixed his face in determination. "Because there are two jinchuuriki in the village right now." Karin furrowed her brow, not sure where the older boy was going with that; what the hell is a jinchuuriki?

The man swiveled around so fast it seemed impossible. "Explain."

Karin stepped forward and bowed to the man. "I have a special jutsu that my aunt has been teaching me since I was very small, that can sense people's chakra. I saw two outsiders in the village, and it looked like they had two chakra types in each of them, and one of them seemed evil. Like it was hatred incarnate, potent enough to burn the entire village down without a second glance, Mui-sama."

The man didn't say anything for a long time, but she could tell he was thinking rapidly about what this could mean. "And how do I trust the validity of this ability?"

"She's never been wrong before," Muku said. "She can identify people based only on their chakra, and sometimes, she can even tell when you lie to her. She figured out that I was planning on throwing a surprise party for Ryuuzetsu's birthday and demanded to help only a couple months ago." The white-haired girl smiled at the memory, but the cold look on Mui's face was enough to make them return to their somber moods.

Ryuuzetsu launched into a quick explanation for why they feared they were spies, but Karin was not paying enough attention. She was still confused by the idea that Muku thought they were jinchuuriki. She didn't fully understand what that word even meant, but she was sure it had something to do with demons. Maybe that's where the second chakra in their bodies comes from?

"Thank you for bringing this information to my attention, but you will not approach these two anymore. You may go."

There was a tense moment before anyone said anything, and Muku opened his mouth to speak again.

" _You_ may go."

* * *

It took several days before Naruto felt any real progress had been made on the seal front. He had to be incredibly careful how he did this, because if it failed, Kusagakure would receive a sudden attack by the Ichibi, and Gaara would die. Neither of those things could happen, but he had to gingerly work to prepare the seals. Merging the two of them, without causing any visible drawbacks, was difficult.

More progress was made helping Gaara hone his basics, and he was wondering where he could get a piece of chakra litmus paper, to test his chakra nature, or if it was even necessary. He had been so adept at using his sand in the future, but would it hurt to add a kind of variability to his skills? Naruto was still unsure.

"Is Karin still out there?" he suddenly asked, looking at the boy who was staring calmly out the window of their room at the inn.

"Yes. She's across the street at this little shop, ignoring her dango and looking at our window with interest."

Naruto smiled, wondering if this would even work. "I have an idea." He held up the symbol on the sheet of paper. "Do you think you can mimic this with your sand?"

* * *

The multi-colored dango sat on her plate, getting soggy and gross at this point, but she couldn't bring herself to eat. She was too interested in the two jinchuuriki to let it go, and despite her fears of their chakra, she felt surprisingly calm around them. Maybe it was because there was an entire street separating them, who knows, but she felt like she had to keep watch over them, just in case. Even though Mui had ordered otherwise.

As she fiddled with her fork, her sleeve raised enough to show the beginning of the scars, tiny little indentions from her training to use her potent life force to heal others. It was not unlike Ryuuzetsu's kekkei genkai, but she pushed that thought away, covering her wrist.

 _It didn't work on her anyway,_ Karin thought bitterly.

There was a small rustling on her plate, and she tried really hard not to scream. What looked like sand had crawled up the table secretly, settling on her plate. If she focused hard enough, she could see the trail of chakra leading toward the inn across the street. She wanted to back away slowly, but something called curiosity told her not to. Within moments, there was a spiral of sand, circling around her dango.

Her eyes widened in shock.

* * *

Naruto peeked from around the curtain, watching as the red-haired girl ran toward the other side of town in a hurry. He smirked, although Gaara looked scared.

"What was the purpose of that?"

"She's family, Gaara. If anyone is going to understand that symbol, it's Karin," he explained with a smile. Naruto had gotten a better reaction out of her than he had anticipated, he just had to hope that she would do something productive with it. "You did a good job mimicking the symbol though from this far away."

The redhead beamed, grinning from ear to ear. "T-thank you."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that, but just shrugged it off. The boy was usually calm, unusually calm compared to how Naruto knew him when they met the first time around. But there was a timid edge to Gaara that he was almost completely bewildered by it, like he was  _embarrassed_  to receive praise.

"What's she going to do with that though? What if she runs to the village leader?"

"If she's anything like I was at that age, she won't."

Gaara glanced up at him incredulously. "But she's older than you."

Naruto just turned away, shaking it off and returning to the seal.

* * *

Karin hurried through the hospital, half-skipping and not even slowing down when the orderlies reprimanded her. But when she finally rounded the corner to where her aunt's room was located, there was a nurse standing outside the door.

"Hey, I need to talk to my aunt please," she said with a grin. "It's really important!"

The nurse knelt down to meet her eyes, and then cleared her throat. "You must be Karin. I'm afraid Keiko can't have visitors right now, she's recovering after her surgery."

"Surgery?"

The nurse pursed her lips. "I don't want to worry you, honey. There was an emergency late last night, and she had to have surgery quickly. She's recovering now, and until we know for sure, we can't have any visitors."

Karin stamped her foot in anger, her mind running through everything she had learned in the last half hour. She might have more family out there! One of those jinchuuriki sent her that message, knowing that she was an Uzumaki! It had to mean something!

"But I'm the only person she has left. Can't you let me see her for a minute? I won't be long, and I'll be quiet so I don't wake her." She knew Keiko would reprimand her for begging, but it was necessary.

The nurse looked around carefully, before finally nodding tersely. "But only if I am with you, for a few minutes at most."

Within a few more moments, the door opened and she was ushered inside, the door closing behind the two of them. The nurse stayed behind in the corner, before excusing herself to the adjoining bathroom.

Karin hated seeing her great aunt like this; Keiko used to have so much vitality, so much life in her. She had always been able to keep up with her grand niece, even in her old age, so that had to mean something. But now, the woman was unconscious with an IV dripping into her arm.

She walked forward and stood by her bed, fidgeting with her sleeves and wondering if it would even work; it had never worked before, and there was no guarantee it would work now. She raised up her arm, studying the scarring from the bite marks that pocked her skin. It was Keiko that had taught her her special abilities, abilities that used her Uzumaki heritage. There was even a particularly thick scar under where the needle stuck into the woman's elbow, and smaller ones dotting the rest of her arms and even some on her legs.

And now, there was another Uzumaki out there somewhere, she was sure of it. At least one of the two jinchuuriki knew she was an Uzumaki, had shown her the famous spiral. It had to mean something!

She sat on the bed carefully, knowing she didn't have enough time. Pushing her sleeve out of the way, she reached forward and pressed the top of her forearm against Keiko's lips. "C'mon, bite down. It'll speed up your recovery!" Karin practically hissed, knowing she didn't have much time.

With her other hand, she carefully forced the woman's jaw open by grabbing her chin, and then forcing her jaw to clamp onto her skin. Within only a few seconds, the mental picture of her chakra flow increased, spreading into her aunt's relatively stagnant chakra system. She made the woman bite harder, listening as the monitors suddenly increased, beeping loudly.

"What are you doing!?" the nurse suddenly yelled as she reappeared inside the room, yanking the red-haired girl off the bed.

"If you bite my skin, it heals! It's a clan thing, you wouldn't understand!"

The nurse scoffed and practically shoved the girl out of the room, before turning back to make sure everything was okay. Karin sighed and paced for several minutes, until the nurse finally reappeared. "How could you do something so irresponsible? The influx of your chakra could have destabilized the precarious balance she is under!"

The redhead frowned. "I just wanted to help; I've done that before when she wanted me to, to try to help her, but it didn't work then and it won't work now. I'm sorry."

The nurse looked at the genuine sorrow on her face and frowned. "It's fine, Karin-chan. I'm going to have to ask you to leave, however, for the sake of her safety. Go home and get some rest."

The bespectacled girl hesitated once before nodding, and dejectedly leaving the hospital. She hated absolutely everything about this, practically shoving her sleeve down her arm to cover up the fresh wound. The tiny rivulets of blood stained her shirt, but she ignored it.

With Keiko lying in state, Karin knew nothing. Reaching up to her neck, she adjusted the necklace on her skin, gripping the linked metal forged by her aunt's own chakra. The tiny pieces chained together were deteriorating, rusting along the edges; it had once been a beautiful necklace, but now it was falling apart.

When she finally managed to make it back to the little apartment they shared, Karin fell flat on her bed and cried, wishing she could bite her own arm to heal her grief.

* * *

Naruto held up the seal, showing it to the other jinchuuriki. Gaara glanced excitedly, but his tired face betrayed his expression. "Is that the seal you've been working on?"

"No, that one will take some more time to work through the logistics. This one is a more temporary one to help you sleep," Naruto explained, a silent hope that Gaara would take it and there would be no problems. "I used a more haphazard one on you to get you out of the Land of Wind, but this one doesn't have those drawbacks, it just doesn't work as long. You should have a good five hours of sleep at a time; sorry I couldn't give you any more." The boy took it and stared at it wondering where to put it. "Just stick it to your arm and channel chakra through it; that will activate it and you'll be able to fall asleep."

The boy did as suggested, immediately looking more like he was going to fall over. "Thank you, Naruto. I... never knew what sleep was like, but thanks to you, I finally can."

The other jinchuuriki just grinned. "No problem at all. Happy to help."

Naruto silently turned back to the desk, trying to wait it out. He stared at the theoretical sigils and symbols swirling on the page, but couldn't pay enough attention to see that. His mind was too pre-occupied with the troubling information he had discovered about Kusagakure to work with the proper amount of attention.

The instant that he was sure Gaara was unconscious, lying on the stale mattress of the decrepit inn without a care in the world, Naruto slipped out of the room, leaving a clone in his place only as a precaution. He bit the very tip of his thumb, swiping a small dot of blood on the wood panel where he had etched a series of kanji. No one would be allowed to enter that room from the door or the window unless he or she carried the same blood as the owner of that seal. It was a practice he had never gotten out of the habit of doing, even in this new life.

He slipped out of the inn through a hall window, easily jumping toward the tree line and following the trail of clone memories that would lead him to potentially the strongest shinobi weapon he had ever come across, and it wasn't even directly a weapon.

The key word was potentially. If Kusagakure could achieve access to it again, it could seriously be trouble for everyone on a global scale. But he wasn't going to let that happen.

It took nearly half an hour before he finally found it, but he didn't rush into a situation when he didn't know all the details. Across the river was the large construction site, preparing to build something that was likely the pretentiously-named **Houzuki-jou (Blood Prison).**  Kusagakure was trying to expand their economic influence internationally, so they were building the most high-tech shinobi prison in the world. It would take a few more years to finish, based on the unfinished, dark imposing mass.

Naruto didn't blame them for wanting to gain influence over some of the other countries, especially considering its location between so many Great Nations. He imagined that the current shinobi system cost Kusagakure a lot, so becoming  _the_  place to imprison criminals had to give them some profit.

But it wasn't the prison that was the problem. It was what was hidden underneath.

* * *

"Isn't this a little bit out of my job description?" asked Muku, tying the headband around his forehead as he was awoken with a new mission.

"But Mui-sama requested that you handle this specifically," said a female chunin a few years older than him, delivering the message. "Are you really questioning his authority?"

The boy quickly shook his head, realizing that that would put him in far more precarious a situation than he ever wanted. He had to gain his father's trust, and if performing questionable missions was part of the job description, who was he to judge? "What about Ryuuzetsu?"

"Who?" asked the chunin, barely paying the question any mind.

Muku realized very quickly the hidden message there; it was a mission that was his, and his alone. "I can handle it, chunin-san. I'll leave immediately." When the woman left, he shook his head and then headed out in the opposite direction.

It didn't take long for him to arrive in front of the small inn, but everything about this felt just wrong. The streets were empty, a result of the curfew that had been imposed on most of Kusagakure a long time ago. The moonlight filtered through the leaves all around them, dotting the landscape like a leopard stalking through the jungle.

Muku jumped toward the floor where they were staying, skipping several yards at a time until he stood on the windowsill, prepared to enter the inn and complete his mission.

"Muku! What are you doing?" An all-too-familiar voice suddenly declared, shouting toward the window from the ground below. The prodigal genin sighed, realizing that if they were listening, there was no way his cover wasn't blown.

He tried to shove her off with hand gestures, gestures she obviously didn't recognize. The redheaded girl's glasses glinted in the light of the moon before she headed out of sight, allowing Muku to sigh. There was no way he was going to deal with her interrupting him or messing up his mission, so she must have taken the hint.

He stalked in front of the door, watching the oak frame carefully before preparing to reach for the knob. The second he got close, almost close enough to touch, pain ignited in his hand and forced it backward, like there was a wall of fire and heat preventing him from touching the door.

"Damn it."  _A fuuinjutsu?_

Knowing what his mission entailed, to go to any means necessary to eliminate the jinchuuriki, he charged his chakra, whirling through several hand-seals and ending on the tiger seal. Fiery-hot chakra surged through his system in preparation.

As he exhaled, the technique did as well, splitting into five balls of flaming light, faces etched into the heat.  _ **Katon: Onidourou (Fire Release: Demon Lantern)!**_

The demonic faces of fire launched at the door, instantly catching it ablaze and then bursting through it, the seal having no effect. He was careful to guide the flames through the room, choosing this technique because of his control. He charged through the doorway, able to pass through the protection seal that someone had placed on the door.

Muku barely made it into the room before he saw the blonde jinchuuriki burst into smoke, hit by the explosion of controlled blaze he used to break through.  _A shadow clone...!_

The bed caught on fire, and whoever was asleep on it wasn't asleep anymore, probably already dead. A quick burst of smoke revealed something different as the blue gourd suddenly took the person's place, the redheaded boy appearing in the corner. There was a surge of chakra, perceptible even to him, that blasted throughout the room, instantly dousing his flames as it whirled around, stinging his eyes.

Something hard slammed into him, crushing him under the pressure of its intensity, and the Kusa genin could hardly understand what was happening. As the substance that could only be sand enveloped his face, he caught sight of the jinchuuriki, surrounded by a miniature sandstorm. He caught a glimpse of the boy's pale face and tortured eyes as his last thought ran through his mind.

* * *

Naruto finally roamed the innards of the castle, constructed from old material to make it look older than it really is. Appearances matter, but it seemed silly to spend so much money to create a new prison that looks like an ancient castle.

Statues littered the hallways, invoking pictures religions that he'd never before considered, and supposed he never would. The events after his first meeting with the Sage proved that the shinobi arts were never going to be peaceful, no matter how much he had tried to spread the ideas of ninshuu into the world. War inevitably came, as power-hungry people were born and killed innocents. Ninjutsu would never become ninshuu again, and he'd have to accept that there were no useful religions.

There weren't many people there during the night, which was all the better for him; Kusa didn't believe they had anything to guard because their secrets were so guarded. Their vigilance was minimal, if existent.

Still, sneaking past what guards there were was incredibly easy, laughably so. One of them even fell for the "skip a rock against the floor in the opposite direction for a distraction" trick, which was just so laughably loud. Another would have never guessed that the brick he ran his hands across had actually been Naruto in a Henge. It was simply too easy to infiltrate a place that didn't believe there was anything to hide, because what was there to hide was supposedly too secretive to need hiding.

When he found the giant courtyard, he wasn't shocked to see Mui talking with other jonin of Kusagakure, and a few council members were there, dressed in odd animal masks that were more odd than any ANBU mask he had ever seen or worn. Ringed on all sides by ancient roofs, some still under construction, surrounded the courtyard and the obscured treasure hidden underneath the ground below.

He eyed the symbols carved into the ground, already thinking through the potential fuuinjutsu that would be used to activate it, and how he could counteract it. In the center of the courtyard, several yards below ground, the Box of Paradise was waiting, and Naruto was going to have to do something to counteract it.

He reached down, already having the right idea in mind. Drawing in blood from his thumb, he symbolized a quick kanji on top of the seal below them, invoking the strongest of the Uzumaki fuuinjutsu, linked by blood. Continuing to write, obscured by the moonlight, he was sure he had a strong enough seal that it would stall the use of the activation seal, perhaps solving the problem all together.

Sadly, he had to do this on every ring of the seal, every existing junction point by substituting his own, Gaara's seal working in his mind again. A modification seal, not unlike the one he was planning to use on the other jinchuuriki, came to mind, but he was unsure it would hold any kind of weight here.

He managed to work through half of the seals he needed to place when a Kusa Jonin suddenly dropped out of nowhere and attempted to skewer him through the back with a naginata. Naruto dropped to the ground, rolled, and then struck him in the throat with a projectile shuriken. He spun to his feet as the jonin disappeared in a cloud of smoke, a brick from the construction site in its place.

"Too basic to deal with an opponent like me," he said, already preparing his next three moves.  **"Suiton: Mizurappa (Water Release: Raging Waves)!"** Doing a three hundred and sixty degree spin through the air, water rushed around and became like a spinning wheel of water, crashing the jonin into the wall.

A clone was suddenly there, holding a spiraling ball of blue energy in his hand. The chakra tore through his torso, leaving a gaping hole and blood across its uniform, before it dissipated.

Three chunin and another jonin, a squad from the looks of them, appeared and prepared to deal with him. The jonin leader shouted, "He's a jinchuuriki! Prepare to deal with him carefully!"

Naruto huffed, upset that he had been so interrupted by people who couldn't stand to actually be a challenge. "Do you really think I need the beast's chakra?"

A man jumped into the air, his fist covered in something that looked like a clawed gauntlet, falling directly toward him. The blonde somersaulted backwards, forming a hand-seal as the brute landed where he once stood.  **"Fuuton: Kamikaze (Wind Release: Divine Wind)!"**

Several small tornadoes whirled to life, spinning rapidly and tearing through the remaining chunin, despite their efforts to get out of the way. Naruto pulled away from the fox's chakra, the sudden influx of using it to upgrade that technique's power nearly making him lightheaded. The jonin barely dodged as his team was ripped apart before his eyes. The life seemed to fade from his own eyes as he hesitated, long enough for a Naruto clone to implant the kunai directly into the back of the man's skull.

* * *

Gaara was still groggy when he finally regained consciousness, tearing the paper seal away from his body and re-applying his sand armor, some of it having been burnt away in the shinobi's attack.

The shinobi in question was a mere genin, unconscious against the wall and held carefully there like the desert itself had grasped him in his hand. The Kusa shinobi was unconscious and fading fast, the sand increasing pressure at every pulse of his uncontrolled chakra.

"Muku!" someone shouted, barely catching his attention. He barely was able to tear his eyes away from his victim when Karin, the Uzumaki girl, burst into the room, admittedly terrified but still worried for her friend's life.

Some form of recognition must have struck him, because he lowered the amount of power surging through his body, enough that the sand began slipping away from his enemy, who slid to the ground in a heap when he finally returned it to the gourd on his bedside.

The girl seemed to realize he was done attacking, while Gaara wrapped his arms around his knees, afraid she would somehow attack too. But Karin simply rushed to her friend, offering her arm and forcing him to bite down on her.

"What are you doing?"

"Saving his life," Karin answered simply, obviously biting back whatever taunt was insulting her. "At least let me save him before you attack me."

Gaara stared at the strange girl. "Attack you? Are you going to attack me? Because if not, then I have no reason to hurt you."

The girl furrowed her brow, wiping away the blood running down her arm from her friend's teeth. "I just don't want you to kill me, like you tried to do him."

"He attacked me, and I defended myself." Gaara felt proud of his answer, but it didn't take long for him to realize that Naruto wasn't here. Before he could panic, he realized there was no way that shinobi could have gotten through Naruto, if Gaara could have defended himself.

"You sent that message in the sand, didn't you?" the girl asked suddenly, breaking Gaara's reverie. When the boy nodded, a small grin hit her face. "So what did that message mean?"

Gaara thought hard about what to say, analyzing what he needed to say for the sake of the other jinchuuriki. "My friend Naruto is an Uzumaki, just like you. He knew you were here, and wanted to send a message to you to know that you aren't alone."

He could only imagine what Karin felt like, if Gaara had been so alone despite being surrounded by his so-called family. The way Naruto explained it, Karin was one of the last remaining members of the Uzumaki, and they were all so spread apart that they would probably have never met under normal circumstances. But Naruto was here, and he was going to seek out the girl, like he had sought out Gaara.

"But you two are... monsters. That chakra is evil, and you have to be too! That's what everyone says."

Gaara looked away, staring into the moonlight streaming through the window. Was she right? Were they monsters?

"I reject that statement," he suddenly decided, knowing that he was going to have to believe otherwise, for his own sanity. "I refuse to believe that, and Naruto would too. We aren't monsters, Karin. We might have what people call demons inside of us, but in the short time that I have known another jinchuuriki, he has proven to me that we are more than the monsters inside of us."

It was a long moment before she said anything at all. "He's almost finished healing, or at least getting stable enough for other treatment. You aren't going to kill him for attacking you, are you?"

The boy shook his head, an idea forming in his brain. "No. But don't wake him up. It's a wonder he didn't burn the entire building down, and I doubt you'd like for him to spread that to other buildings if he follows us."

She glanced at him, confused. "Us?"

"You want to meet Naruto, don't you? I need to find him, and you can help me."

* * *

The surge of memories from the clone suddenly washed over him, revealing that Muku himself, the son of the village's leader, had just attacked Gaara and probably wouldn't live to tell about it.

"C'mon, Mui. Stop playing games," he said suddenly, two more shinobi standing between him and the village leader. The animal-mask wearing council members took their place on the sidelines, clearly moving away from the battle. "Let me defeat you now so that I can stop your insane plan to release Satori on the world."

The man stared at him in confusion for a moment. "What are you talking about, demon?"

Naruto rolled his eyes, thinking of the intelligence his clones had been gathering during his time here. "The Box of Paradise doesn't make happy-go-lucky wishes. It invokes the power of the uncontrollable demon Satori, a powerful weapon that cannot be stopped. If you use this, everyone in this land will die, and it'll be at your hand." Naruto raised a scroll, opening it and then throwing it at the man, who took it and read it carefully, fingers trembling with realization as to what it was. "Why don't you take a look at your own words, your own handwriting!? You were going to sacrifice your  _own_  son to become the vessel to Satori, just so you could bring the village some misguided power." He practically spat at the man, ignoring the blood caked on his hands from the dead shinobi around him. "I'm a jinchuuriki, a product of that very situation, and I can tell you right now that you don't want that for Muku!"

Mui seemed genuinely terrified by that notion, shocked by him. "I n-never wanted that... How do I know you aren't lying?"

"Because I'm an honest shinobi," he said with a mischievous grin. "When I want to be. If you use this, your son will die, Kusagakure will die, and there won't be anyone to stop Satori from destroying the world." He stopped himself from saying that he probably could, if only because of his sealing prowess and the Kyuubi's chakra. He couldn't be sure though, because he had never faced the might of Satori himself. He hoped he never would.

Mui dropped the letter to the ground, as though mortified by his own plan. "I promise... I won't use the Box."

After a moment of true sincerity, Naruto just laughed. "In what universe did you think I would give you that option, even if you never took it? When my clones are finished drawing their seals in about 3 seconds," he said, gesturing around him, "you'll never be able to activate the Box of Paradise with the current sealing array, and any attempts to change the sealing array or add new ones will fail, because mine are self-correcting." Mui looked around, surprised to see so many clones drawing the same mimicking seals on the ground in blood and ink.

Mui just dropped to the ground, unsure of what to think about this. Naruto walked toward the broken man, the jonin around him unable to move because of how bewildered they were at the boy's actions.

"You're an awful man, and an awful parent," he said. "And I can judge that because my old man wasn't the best guy in the world. He did this to me after all, even if the ends justify the means."

Biting his thumb for the third time that night for fresh blood, he moved in one motion and planted his thumb on the man's tongue. A surge of chakra and the  **juinjutsu (cursed seal)**  activated, the blood spreading into a circular shape. "You'll never be able to betray any information about me or about the Box of Paradise ever again, nor about my comrades. You're lucky that I'm being generous here, because you ordered your own son to assassinate us on this very night, that son that you wanted so desperately to use for a wish from a damned box. I'll be shocked if Gaara left him alive."

Mui watched in hatred as Naruto's juinjutsu was spread by clones to every single person who witnessed the battle, as short as it was, and Naruto was sure he had the Box of Paradise under control from now on. No one would ever use it for any reason, ever.

Keeping Mui alive prevented any questions being raised about his presence in Kusagakure, as it was certain that a sudden village leader's death would invoke way too much drama. He had to keep his outs, and as annoying as Danzo Shimura had been, the Shinobi no Yami had quite a good approach on secret-keeping and covering their tracks.

* * *

"There. He's coming toward us," Karin said suddenly, a twinge of fear she hadn't meant to express in her voice. She was still dealing with far too much, but the idea that the boy was family was still nerve-wracking for her.

Gaara stood next to her, holding onto the tree with only his chakra, finally having mastered that bit of control. She wasn't holding onto it as easily, her control still needed work, but she could stand on the branch without fear of falling off.

The second the boy entered her vision, she knew something was off, something she hadn't noticed before.  _His hair is blonde..._

"Hello, Karin. If you're worried about the hair, I take after my dad," the boy explained with a grin. "My mom was Kushina Uzumaki. Do you know about her?"

All of Keiko's stories suddenly flooded her mind; the woman was practically her idol. "Yes! I know all about her. She was an awesome shinobi, if all her exploits speak for her! And she married that hunk of a man; it all makes sense now why you're a blonde, Naruto!"

The boy laughed nervously, before offering her arm. "Come on in for a hug, Karin-chan."

The girl smiled and nodded, wrapping her arms around him tightly. He returned the gesture kindly, although without as much enthusiasm as she did. "Are there any more of you? Any more Uzumaki travelling with you?"

He shook his head. "No, I'm afraid not. Do you live with someone who is of our clan?"

The girl nodded excitedly, reaching to her neck to show the necklace that she had fashioned for her. But as quickly as she had it in her hand, it shattered and fell apart into glowing dust, returning to its chakra and then dissipating.

"Keiko-oba!" She refused to admit to herself what that meant, but Naruto seemed to understand.

"Oh, Karin, it's going to be all right," Naruto said, trying to make her feel better with another hug. She started crying into his shoulder, gripping him as though he was the anchor to the world. Gaara raised a tentative hand to touch her shoulder, understanding her pain all too well, and she leaned into his touch too.


	6. Truth in the Storm

The girl had not stopped crying for the last two and a half hours, and for good reason. But when she suddenly ran over and kicked the elaborate gravestone of a minor clan, that made Keiko Uzumaki's own stone look like a cheaply made piece of trash, Naruto frowned. He shared her sentiments, cutting to the root of why she was upset. The Uzumaki clan deserved more regard, more respect.

It was the first real regret he had had since he propelled himself back in time. That technique might have only worked on a person's own singular history, transplanting the older mind into the younger body, but it wouldn't have worked for anyone else to use. However, if he could have had someone else much older than him use it, he knew now that he would have stopped the destruction of Uzushiogakure and the extermination of his clan.

Gaara was still working on tree climbing, having mastered most of the technique's training, but not the speed. He had excused himself from their moment, disappearing into the woods nearby to keep working on it. Naruto couldn't blame him for not wanting intrude on Karin's moment.

"I wish I could have met her," Naruto said, not turning to see the almost hysterical girl's tears. "She sounds like an excellent person and a true remnant of our clan's legacy."

The girl didn't comment at first, but his words renewed her sobbing. "It all seems so pointless now, that legacy. She was probably the last person alive who even remembers what our clan was like at the height of its time." Naruto inwardly agreed, realizing that Keiko really was the last person who had witnessed the Uzumaki at their prime from the inside. Nagato's parents were dead, his parents were dead. Older people might remember it, but there weren't any people around who actually lived through it as a member of the family, and Naruto hated that.

"Just because that first-hand experience is gone does not mean that the two of us can't make our own path, under a new Uzumaki banner," he said with a smile. "The future doesn't have to lead to extinction, you know. One day, you and I will have families, and our genes will spread again. I'm sure of it."

The redhead adjusted her glasses, her sniffling subsiding a moment. She held out her hands, and with a look of pure determination, she held out an admittedly haphazardly-created chain link, forged from nothing but chakra and a small bit of iron in her blood, slipping from the tenketsu in her wrist. When she sat it down, it fell apart and was blown away by the wind.

"Why am I such a failure!? She wouldn't be proud of me."

Naruto skewed his face with frustration at hearing that, genuinely concerned. "I'm proud of you, and I know she would be too. I would have never thought you could use the chains this young, or at least start to." He grinned at the thought of that, truly impressed that someone so young already had the foundations for several of their clan's signature techniques, like the healing bite and the Kagura Shingan. "I never learned, but maybe you and I can work on that together. It would certainly work well with sealing."

"She wasn't very good at it either," she admitted, sniffling again. "But stories about Kushina were a huge inspiration to me to learn how to use them, I just haven't had much success."

Naruto grinned. "Well, we'll figure it out, no worries. Do you need more time here?" When she finally shook her head, he just nodded and gestured for her to follow.

"So where are we headed?" she asked, the look in her eyes completely different from when he first suggested it.

"You don't have any second thoughts? I'm sure you could stay here and continue your studies at the Academy and become a proud kunoichi of Kusa," he explained, already knowing that she wouldn't take it. She didn't have anywhere else to go, and Naruto had already offered her the Uzumaki heritage she was seeking. But he knew the real reason he didn't want her to stay, and that snake bastard was sure to find her one day in the coming years. He couldn't allow that to happen.

"No. I'm definitely following you and Gaara," she declared, wiping at her reddened eyes. "You just never mentioned where we were going exactly."

"Well, I promised Gaara we wouldn't stay here for a long time, because of the humidity," he said with a laugh. "So I'm sure we could hit the road again soon. I just know I need to finish what I'm working on too."

Naruto pondered their options, however, because he was sure the three of them could be on their way out of Kusa by nightfall, if Karin didn't have any qualms with it. Gaara wouldn't.

There was no point in going west, as he had already maneuvered through the very border of Ame no Kuni when trying to get out of the way of Nagato's rain, and they had no reason to go into Kaze no Kuni again.

No way could they go east back into Hi no Kuni; the Hokage was certain to still have people looking for him, and even running into someone as low-ranking as chunin would be an issue.

Going directly northwest would lead into the heart of Tsuchi no Kuni, and northeast would lead into Takigakure. The treaty came to mind, and it was possible that intelligence sharing could factor into that. How long until the nations allied with Konoha all noticed their jinchuuriki were missing, and started warning all the others? A full-scale war could be waged in the blink of an eye, all because of his own ministrations, and that was definitely not something he wanted, or needed.

"Uh... Naruto? What are you thinking?" Karin asked, breaking him from his reverie.

"Sorry, nothing's wrong for now. I'm thinking we're going to have to head into Tsuchi no Kuni for now." He remembered Karin's exclamation about his father being a "hunk" of a man in the stories about his mother, and it seemed especially relevant to remember his hair. "But I'm going to have to handle this very carefully."

She looked at him curiously. "What do you mean?"

"How good are you with Henge?"

* * *

Karin and Gaara were getting sick of Naruto's training regiments, because they were getting increasingly more difficult. Karin's control proved good enough to move onto water walking very quickly, able to stand in the shallow end of the river that ran along the edge of the last town of Kusagkure near the border of Tsuchi no Kuni. Gaara had joined her shortly after finally mastering it perfectly, but practically refused to try it.

"C'mon, I know why you don't like water, but it can't be that bad."

"Are you scared of some water?" Karin had asked teasingly, before reaching down and splashing at him. The surface of the sand had turned into mush for a split second before righting itself, but it had still been enough to make her understand.

"I'll have to come up with a different kind of training regimen," he had muttered. "The sand refuses to let me pass, and I don't particularly like to get wet."

Karin had guffawed. "How do you  _shower?!"_  But the boy had refused to comment, and Naruto couldn't blame him.

So as the days turned into weeks, Naruto was nearly finished preparing the seal he was going to use, he was sure of it. Karin had not shown much interest in learning their applications, and Gaara was proving difficult to actually teach the seals practically. He got too wrapped up in the theory behind them, while Karin didn't seem like she cared, despite the Uzumaki.

"Is that it?" she had asked, sure she had drawn the storage scroll well enough. But without waiting for Naruto's go ahead, she attempted to seal a kunai into the scroll. The next few moments had been priceless, as Naruto and Gaara had witnessed Karin's entire face covered in ink, so thick on her glasses that she couldn't see at all. Smoke surrounded her, clinging to her as she wailed and the two boys just laughed.

"I'm never doing this again!"

Naruto was sure she would come around soon enough, but fuuinjutsu wasn't for everyone, even if they held the Uzumaki name. He had to respect that, although he was still frustrated that the girl was so dead-set on ignoring any attempt to learn the skill.

It was easy to see everyone as peers, no matter the age, because most of the people he was used to working with had grown up with him. But thanks to this situation, the actual age gap separating him from his companions was glaringly obvious, more with Karin than with Gaara. The latter had had to grow up fast, circumstances forcing him into a mindset that had most likely destroyed his psyche forever more, no matter how much Naruto believed he could "fix him" by removing some of the traumatic events that led him down that route. The former was more likely to be childish or immature, with the mindset of a child, and it was frustrating; however, on the nights when he heard her crying herself to sleep, she proved that wasn't always the case. When Karin gained some maturity, maybe she-

Naruto looked down with realization at the paper.  _Maturity... That's it!_ The secret he was missing was there, and he suddenly began adding more to the seals.  _A long-term adjusting seal will work with the stabilization seals to create a balancing act... If I just make sure the elements of the individual seals match, I can add them to the junction points of the modification seal. This basic formula should work with all of the jinchuuriki, not just Gaara!_

* * *

"This food is really good," she said with a smile, sitting on the bar-stool with a space between her and Gaara. She had been hoping that Naruto would sit between them, but he was working furiously with those bastard seals and had refused to join them. She felt a little at odds sitting next to the boy, because only a few weeks ago, the boy had nearly killed Muku, justified or not.

 _That red chakra..._  it was still inherently powerful, but it couldn't be evil, could it? It was still terrifying to her to see some of that chakra flowing through Gaara at all times, much more than Naruto's own body, despite the difference in the number of seals. Gaara's gourd was tainted with the chakra, most of it coming from the Ichibi, and she was sure that if the circumstances were right, the sand could kill her without warning. Every time she saw it being actively used, she couldn't stop herself from wanting to flinch away.

Muku had recovered, but she didn't want anything to do with him after saving him. He had blindly followed his father's orders, and that was something she couldn't understand wanting to do. But she didn't find either Gaara or Muku completely at fault. That was Mui's orders.

She was sure she would get over it, because the two of them had already defied her expectations several times over. Gaara proved to be a little distant, a little bit uncertain, but still had a good heart. Naruto was one of the warmest people she had ever known, but there was an edge to him that she couldn't identify at all.

"What do you think about all this?" she asked suddenly, breaking the silence with a calculated whisper in case Mui's forces were watching them, despite Naruto's assurance they were safe. "I mean, gathering all of them will be hard, won't it? They're practically spread across the whole continent."

The boy calmly nodded, taking another sip of his soup. "It won't be that difficult as we get going. Naruto seems to have a general plan."

She had been thinking carefully about all of this already, but something wasn't adding up. "How does he know where they all are? I mean, he's our age. How's he supposed to know that, exactly?"

Gaara squinted at the bowl in front of him. "Maybe he's gathered intelligence. Those clones of his are really versatile." He shook his head suddenly, as though sensing a contradiction. "But that still doesn't explain a lot. For him to be as strong as he is, at such a young age, it doesn't make any sense. Maybe his beast of burden gives him some kind of advantage with abilities he wouldn't normally have."

"Like maybe a kekkei genkai?" asked Karin, trying to remember what she knew in the Academy and apply it here. "Or something similar, at least?"

Gaara stared at the wall ahead, deep in thought. The bartender came by and filled up their glasses of water, serving with a smile. "I don't know. I mean, I have my sand, and that's similar. Does Naruto gain a boost with all the abilities because of his situation?"

Karin couldn't know, but she knew the boy was keeping something from them. She wasn't buying the idea that he taught himself all of this for the past two years, which was their cover story in case anyone outside of them asked. But did he really expect the two of them to believe that? "I just feel like he needs to be honest," she added finally. "We need to know what he knows, or we'll be constantly in the dark about what's going on."

The other redhead raised the bowl to his face and drank the last of it, finishing it off quickly. "I don't think we need to know everything he knows. I get the feeling we wouldn't  _want_  to know everything he knows. The nine of us share a connection, something that no one else can share." Karin realized very quickly that she was not included in that connection, frowning. "Because of that, I'll follow him anywhere, even if he only tells us what we need to know, and nothing more."

The boy stood up and prepared to head back upstairs, leaving Karin with her food and her thoughts. Disappointment and confusion forced its way to her face, uncertain in a way she hadn't imagined.  _Honesty is important... isn't it?_

* * *

**"Why must you bother me?"**

"Why pretend like you were asleep? You never are, and you never were."

**"Because I get to give off the appearance of an enigma, and I know it pisses you off."**

Naruto rolled his eyes at the great fox before him, its nine tails spinning out behind the great wooden cage. Its body didn't move however, unnaturally still.

"You don't piss me off when you act mysterious. You piss me off when you still act mysterious, even when I know what the answer to the mystery is, Kurama."

The Kyuubi roared, its power enough to tear him apart if it wasn't behind the cage.  **"Stop using that damned name that you don't deserve to know!"** He opened one great eye and stared carefully at the eight square seals running along the walls, scoffing at them as though the bleeding effect wasn't a problem anymore.

Naruto saw through his prideful way of asking that question, getting to the root of the issue quickly. "Well, I think I've figured out the secret to these seals, actually. Or at least, I can take care of most of their influence over this seal quickly. But it still might not please you, especially the other side of it."

 **"Humans could never please me, so don't even bother,"**  the creature said, not bothering to really understand what the man was saying.  **"But what other side of this is there? The only side I see is the side where I hate you and your very presence."**

Naruto just chuckled. "Maybe I'll just leave the seals here and let them drive you insane. It certainly would be fun for me, assuming that you aren't ever let out of the bottle."

The fox growled.  **"Don't threaten me, human."**

"I wasn't threatening, just making a healthy observation. It's important to lay out all the options on the table to really understand the situation. Wouldn't you agree?"

The fox refused to answer the question directly. " **What are these options on the table?"**

The jinchuuriki grinned.

* * *

The other two looked at him expectantly. "You can do this, Gaara. Think about your control, your emotions, and take care of it."

The redhead breathed in and out deliberately, trying to comprehend the basis of his powers. He'd never done anything like this, so getting the control correct was going to be difficult.

"Can't we find a cave somewhere?" asked Karin.

Naruto shook his head. "No. Natural caves appear on the map, and this is a jungle so it might be hard to find one. I don't want to head into the mountains until we have handled this seal."

Gaara tuned them out, popping the cork off of the gourd and drawing out the sand, guiding it with chakra running through his fingertips. It didn't take long for all of it to exit the gourd, fighting to return to be close to him, to protect him.  _Shukaku, stop resisting. This is a good thing._

The voice was silent for once, but the beast's control still worked against his, limited as it was with his calm emotional state. He suddenly pressed the sand to the ground, using the pressurized grains to tear away at the earth and create more sand, only adding to his power exponentially.

"Wow, you were right! It's only getting stronger!" He couldn't contain his excitement, and the other two just laughed at his antics.

"I told you it would work like that. Even with as limited sand as you have, you can always make more."

Gaara continued with Naruto's encouragement and Karin's amazement, using that added enthusiasm to make it work faster. Within a few minutes, he had turned the ground underneath several tree roots into a hollowed cavern, drawing all of the sand away into the walls to pack them for support. A small forty-five degree tunnel led almost twenty five yards underground, where the tallest of the trees' roots extended and gave it shape. He had tried to make it as large as he could without destabilizing the ground around it, and it was probably the size of Temari's bedroom in the Kazekage's mansion. Not large but not small either.

"Wow," Naruto said, holding a torch before finding a careful place among the roots to place it, giving enough light in the room for everyone to see. Gaara could tell that Karin wanted another torch, but they didn't have the materials to light another one. "You outdid yourself here. I'm surprised it was so easy. You did well thinking about the roots being able to hold the walls together, because I probably would have tried to go toward the clearing instead of away from it."

The redheaded boy beamed, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "I tried."

The boy turned to Karin. "I need you to keep me updated on anyone you can see coming. How big is your range?"

"One hundred fifty yards for anyone I'm unfamiliar with. Almost double that if I have a close connection with the person," the girl explained, proud. "Keiko always said it would get better with time."

Gaara could still see the pain on her face, but she had gotten much better at dealing with her grief over the few weeks of slow travel toward the northern border. He still pondered Yashamaru far too often, but reminding himself of what he had tried to do cut that away quickly.

"That's awesome," Naruto said, but his face betrayed the lie. Gaara and the girl shared a glance, a silent communication passing between them.

"Do you really need much more than that?" Gaara finally asked. "It's the middle of the night and we're still on the Kusagakure side of the border. Why would Mui come after us with any of his troops now?"

The blonde shook his head. "No, you don't understand. I'm not worried about them, just about everything else." He gestured to the wall to their left. "Can you make another tunnel leading out that way while I prepare the fuuinjutsu? Karin, at a moment's notice, I'm going to gesture to one of these tunnels and you need to run as quickly as you can."

Gaara's eyes widened, and Karin gaped. "What's going on? Is this going to be dangerous?"

"How risky  _is_  this?" asked the Ichibi jinchuuriki.

The blonde cringed. "Possibly very. It shouldn't, because no one is better at this stuff than me. But I've never tried it before; it could have consequences."

"What exactly are you doing?"

Gaara finished his tunnel, trying to make this one easier for them to climb out if they needed to. He still didn't understand all the specifics behind what Naruto was trying to do, but he trusted him. He couldn't be doing anything too risky.

"I'd rather tell you after I've finished it. It shouldn't take very long, and I can tell you everything you need to know after that."

After nearly forty-five minutes, Karin stood by the sidelines as Gaara stood in the center of the manmade cavern, surrounded on all sides by what Naruto called primer sigils, circling out from him in black ink in a spiraling formation. Some even extended close to the earthen walls, ready to come up to that. When Naruto extended a sigil with his brush dangerously close to Karin's foot, he gave her a stern warning. "When the seal activates, steer clear of any of this. You don't want to touch it."

The girl nodded, getting even closer to her designated safe area, close to the tunnel leading out. "You're starting to scare me, you know."

"Fuuinjutsu can be terrifying," he said frankly. "Why else do you think the Uzumaki were destroyed? Seals are a secret weapon that not many can combat, because they require years of study to master."

Gaara raised an eyebrow at that. "So you've been learning how to draw complicated seals since you were in diapers?"

"Better yet, Gaara, I bet he's been doing this since before he was conceived!"

The two of them laughed, but Naruto looked at them puzzled. "Actually, that's not entirely inaccurate. Still trying to get my head wrapped around that."

The Suna native was completely bewildered by that statement. Was he just playing along, or was he actually serious? How would that even work?

Karin seemed confident that she had figured it out, looking at the boy nearing the finishing point of his primer sigils. "Duh! Why have I been trying to figure this out because it's obvious? You're talking about Minato and Kushina!" She excitedly clasped her hands at the prospect, but Gaara just looked on, trying to wrap his head around it.

"They're my parents, Gaara. Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, if you didn't already know. They were really good at fuuinjutsu, and Minato was considered a master-level by Uzumaki standards when he died," Naruto explained. "Karin thinks I was referring to them."

"You weren't?" she asked, adjusting her glasses.

"I never said that," he added with a mischievous smirk. "Now, we're ready. Gaara, get ready for this because I honestly don't know how it's going to play out." Within another few moments, the boy nodded that he was prepared, and Naruto flew through hand-seals, ending with the ram.  **"Uzumaki Hakke no Fuuin Shiki: Ichibi Shuusei (Uzumaki Eight Trigrams Sealing Style: One-Tailed Beast Modification)!"**

* * *

The second he dropped the blood from his thumb onto the primer sigils, the entire thing lit up with blue light and spread outward from the initial point, spiraling around in the familiar Uzumaki spiral, condensing under Gaara's feet in the exact center. The boy looked around in shocked silence, and the light suddenly grew so intense that Karin gasped, having to shut her eyes.

Naruto was worried that this was a bad idea now, although it would to have work. The second Gaara began to scream, glowing blue ink rolling up his legs under the skin, obviously inflicting massive pain. It disappeared under his clothes, before reappearing on his arms, wrapping around his hands. All of the sigils slowly moved toward his body, sucked into a single point on his stomach, glowing brightly even through his tan shirt.

Karin cried out. "Naruto! Look!" She gestured to the walls, backing away from them and jumping toward the blonde's place closer to the center, without touching any of the sigils that were still burning as they all slid onto Gaara's body. "What's happening?"

"Shukaku is resisting! Head out now!" Naruto realized, the sand gathering on the floor, preparing to bury them alive. The sigils all finished gathering on the screaming Gaara's stomach, a bright blue spiral that glowed with power.

In seconds, the expected outcome happened. The boy clutching the left side of his forehead as the old seal burned away visibly on the skin, an outdated design that was poor for any kind of connection between Bijuu. The ink from the old seal used to bind it disappeared, but Naruto hadn't expected the next part.

The bright blue seal continued getting brighter and brighter, and Gaara clutched at his stomach in pain before it finally dissipated, leaving a nearly identical seal to Naruto's behind. The only major difference was the tiny magatama shape directly in the center of the Uzumaki spiral.

Gaara collapsed to the ground in an unconscious heap, the room suddenly halting its collapse. Naruto was holding onto one of the roots attached to the ceiling for dear life, and Karin was already on the surface, probably able to tell it was over now.

Naruto fell to the ground, guilt washing over him. He hated seeing the boy in pain, but if that was what it cost to allow the boy to benefit from a more manageable seal, then it would have to work for all of them.

* * *

Gaara awoke in a sea of dunes, the wind brushing the grains of dust in his eyes. His skin was naked; not unclothed, but uncovered by his sand defense. His first instinct was to pull on the power of the sand, but it didn't work; none of it would beckon to his call. "Father? What have you done now?"

He peered around him, looking to his left and right, and straight ahead. The sea of dunes seemed to go on forever, so if his father had something to do with where he was, he was sure he was as far away from civilization as he could be. The sun felt warm, the perfect mix of hot and cool that reminded him of the hours just after dawn in the spring time, before the unrelenting sun washed over them.

But when he turned around behind him, his eyes widened. A great dark cloud was pouring rain down from above, so strong it seemed impossible to ignore. It looked like it had the beginnings of a spiraling pattern from this angle, which seemed familiar to him, but nothing made sense to him.

He walked forward, getting closer to the rain cloud until he could see it more clearly. The raging body of water was perfectly circular, matched with the storm as waves rushed back and forth.

An island stood in the center, unfettered by the rain itself, like the weather was concentrated in a circle over the water, ringing around the island. In the center of the island stood something impossible to really identify, unknown to him at all.

As the creature swirled around and raged, a single spiky tail swung around but was unable to cross the powerful wall of rain. It raged once more, screaming in a familiar voice, the voice that never left Gaara's mind. His eyes widened in shock when he understood what was happening, and who he was meeting.

"Mother?"

 **"I'm not a woman!"**  the creature declared suddenly, laughing hysterically.  **"I can't believe you thought I was a girl for all those years. You have to be seriously messed up to think I was your precious mother."**  The monster laughed harder, all without closing its golden eyes once, staring intently at him. The blue lines that crossed its body made of sand seemed to thicken as it bulged with anger.  **"I had free reign to surge through this desert, but now that fucking fox kid's done trapped me in this miniscule hell! Do you think this water will hold me for long!? It's just water!"**

As though to demonstrate that fact, it slapped its tail outward and had to recoil in pain as it bounced off of the liquid wall that solidified out of the rain. Again and again, the Ichibi tried, but it was to no avail; would it ever learn?

Gaara still felt terrified for seeing the Shukaku personally for the first time, outside of the tiny glimpses he had gotten from his dreams. But the creature seemed unable to escape the island of sand, no matter how he tried to expand his influence. After one particularly loud roar, the storm and the lake seemed to expand inward just to constrict him, forcing him to constrict into some form that made no sense. The storm righted itself to its original position, as did Shukaku, taking on the appearance of a tanuki once again.

"This is what Naruto had in mind?" It all seemed to make sense to him, seeing the bigger picture now. Shukaku's seal must have been weak, and Naruto had strengthened it or transformed it into a stronger one somehow. Already, he felt better, despite having to face the creature finally, like the storm within his mind had calmed considerably. "I don't like this."

 **"Shut up, shut up, shut up!"**  Shukaku tried to punch outward with one of its claws, but it crashed painfully into a solid wall of water, some of it burning away at its body as though it were on fire. Parts of its body suddenly glinted in the light, before falling off and shattering like the sound of a broken mirror.  **"This fucker created some kind of amplified seal using my biggest weaknesses against me. He's a miserable genius!"**

It raged once more, trying to push past it but more of its body changed to glass or mush and fell away. It was able to regenerate, as though nothing had happened to it, but it was getting more and more frustrated as time went on.

"I'm pretty confident that you're never going to get past that," he said suddenly, believing Naruto had succeeded in whatever he had been trying to do for weeks. "If Naruto is as good as he seems to be, it's gotta be true."

 _"Oh man, do you really think so?"_  a familiar voice said, and as Gaara turned to look, a middle-aged blonde man with whisker marks on his cheeks and stark blue eyes appeared, a scar running up from his neck to his right cheekbone. He was wearing dark clothes with a light purple armor over them and a sword on his back, a blank hitai-ate headband tying his spiky locks back.

Here before him was an older version of Naruto, and it didn't make any sense to him. "You're him, aren't you? But how? And why do you look like that?"

The man looked down at himself and suddenly realized what Gaara was asking.  _"Oh, sorry about that, but I can't control what I look like in here. Yeah, it's me, Naruto."_  He grinned the familiar grin, but it was wizened with age, looking like he was several decades older than middle-aged.  _"As for what I am, I'm just a part of Naruto's chakra. I'll just be chilling here until you need me, when you need me."_

"And when is that?"

_"You'll know when you know, you know?"_

Gaara frowned again, groaning. "Well, can you tell me what this seal does? Or how you changed it?"

He placed a hand on his chest. "I _don't really know what Naruto did, to be honest. I know what he was planning to do, to change all the jinchuuriki seals to match his kind of seal. I guess it's to limit the number of negative side-effects from the seal you had before."_

"Like what?"

 _"You couldn't sleep before, but now you can, of your own volition,"_  he explained.  _"And Shukaku's chakra can't interfere."_

**"I can do whatever I want with my chakra, whenever I want!"**

The chakra construct of Naruto rolled his eyes.  _"I highly doubt that he'd allow you to do that anymore."_

The Not!Naruto was caught in a staring match between him and the maniacal tanuki, the two shooting daggers of death at each other.  **"I'll get out of here, you know!"**  It once again tried to jump straight upward and into the cloud, where it fell down hard with most of its skin shattering like glass, shouting in agony before regenerating, anger still flowing off of him in waves.

 _"Geez, were you always this unstable in_ my _head?"_ He paused to look at Gaara, who was still unaware of what was really going on.  _"You aren't meant to know yet, kid, and I don't want to be the guy to tell you. Ask Naruto."_

"But you  _are_  Naruto!"

The construct just laughed before waving.  _"If you need me, I'll be there. Try not to destroy yourself, Shukaku, before the boy learns how to control you."_  That final warning was left with a bit of rage from the sand monster before he suddenly vanished in a swirl of leaves and smoke.

* * *

Karin was pacing throughout the room of the small border town's hotel, wishing Gaara would wake up. She and Naruto had had to carry him back to town carefully, because he had been unconscious for hours.

The blonde was quite exhausted just from watching her walk back and forth, asking the same question every half hour. "Are you sure making him bite me wouldn't help him wake up faster?"

Naruto laughed suddenly, making her frown.  _Did she realize what she said?_ "Be carefully how you say that, Karin. You can try  _that_  option in a few years."

The girl huffed and stomped her feet, hair shaking as she did. "I'm serious, Naruto. Can't I make it speed up?"

He shook his head. "He's not hurt, his body just needs time to adjust."

"Adjust to what? You still haven't told me what you actually did!"

He sighed, hesitating. "I simply replaced his seal with my own." He raised his shirt slightly, channeling a bit of chakra to show the seal on his stomach. Karin was wide-eyed. "These seals hold the Bijuu at bay, and the one Suna uses is terrible. He's got one that matches mine almost exactly now."

"Why'd you do that?"

"Because jinchuuriki need to work together with the Bijuu, and with Gaara's old seal, he couldn't communicate with it without harming his own mind. Now, he has the choice to talk with him, and I can help him gain control over the beast's chakra that he would have never had so easily before."

That wasn't all of it, but she didn't need to know the rest. That was the main reason, definitely, and Naruto was already imagining that if his theory was correct, he would be able to replace all of their seals with his own by adjusting things only slightly.

"What's the advantage to that though?" she glanced down at him, and then looked at Naruto. "Before now, it looked like the red chakra was in every one of Gaara's coils, even in his sand. Now, there's hardly any of that there, most of it concentrated in one place. It's just like yours." Something seemed to cross her mind. "But wait... didn't you say his ability to control the sand came from Shukaku? If you sealed him farther away, does he have that anymore?"

Naruto had not considered that, but he kept his surprise hidden. He remembered that Gaara had been able to still use his sand even after the Akatsuki extracted the Bijuu from him, so he imagined that there would still be enough left over for him to use it. Naruto's advanced healing was similar, even before he ever consciously tried to access the Bijuu's chakra.

"He might be a little stunted at first, but I can teach him how to use it again," he answered, just as something stirred on the bed.

"You're awake!" Karin suddenly declared, rushing over to hug him. Not unexpectedly, the boy recoiled but she was still able to hold him. His eyes seemed shocked when the sand in the gourd at his side did not suddenly burst to life to defend him from one of Karin's death grip hugs.

"Yeah. I guess I am," he said, before locking eyes with Naruto. "You and I need to talk."

Naruto groaned at the possibility, but Karin excused herself after his urging, upset though that she wasn't included again.

No one said anything for a long moment, and Naruto knew Gaara was trying to figure out how to approach the situation. "What is going on? Tell me, Naruto. Why did an older version of you appear in my head?"

Naruto's unfortunate suspicions were confirmed, thinking back to his own inner world, with the eight square-shaped modification seals lining his walls. A part of his chakra was still in the seal, and it must have broken apart and released to Gaara's new seal when he'd made it. That was when he first met his parents after all, so it must be like that.

"Does it matter, really?"

Gaara looked at him pointedly. "This time, yes. It does. Because it involves me directly. Karin believes honesty is important, and right now, I could use a little truth."

Naruto knew he couldn't have kept everyone in the dark forever, because there were too many questions being raised by his skills.

"I'm older than I look," he explained finally, looking at Gaara with a probably unhelpful grin. "I am from the future. Or at least, my mind is. And I'm going to stop that future from happening."


	7. Artful Fate

"You sure this will work?"

"Yeah, this doesn't seem like a good idea. Won't they have guards who can see through this?"

Naruto scoffed, thinking carefully back to a particular little kid who loved to hide with the most horrible disguises, the most fond of which was a cardboard box painted to look like rocks. "Trust me, we're going to be fine. My layered Henge is too good not to work against glorified security guards." He'd worked for so many months perfecting that after the war that it was nearly infallible to most types of detection methods, able to fool even the average chunin-level Hyuuga.

The three of them were obscured in the tree line, holding onto only the thinnest of branches and surrounded entirely by leaves. Karin was holding the other jinchuuriki up with her own chakra, helping him stand; Naruto hated that the boy's control was so thoroughly shot by the influence of the new seal, an unintended side effect, but he was sure that Gaara would bounce back quickly. He'd been trying to drill the basics into both of them for a reason, even before the new seal was placed on Gaara.

Far ahead of them and peeking through the thinnest of openings in the leaves, they could see the outpost ahead of them. Naruto tested the Henge by staring into the reflection of a kunai, revealing his black hair and brown eyes, an almost completely different face with no whisker marks. If he didn't know any better, he'd say he looked like a younger version of Asuma Sarutobi with longer hair that nearly came down to shoulders.

They weren't even over the border into the mountainous country, a field separating them from the nearest outpost. They couldn't see any details inside the nest-like building around two hundred yards away, but they had Karin Uzumaki.

"There are four guards," she explained. "Not a lot of chakra. I don't think they've spotted us yet, but I'd need to be close to be sure."

"Chunin, most likely," he said, thinking back to his recent fight in Kusagakure. If it came to a direct fight against him, which it wouldn't, then he was glad they were chunin. Iwa Jonin would be vastly superior in every way to Kusa Jonin, and they had been a joke not even worth a name in the Bingo Book. He doubted these chunin would stand a chance, but their goal wasn't to intercept targets, but to warn the interior of Tsuchi no Kuni and intercept if they had to.

"Why are we waiting this long?" Gaara suddenly asked, irritated. The boy had been looking at him differently ever since he explained the truth, but Gaara seemed to understand why he kept it from people when he explained his reasoning. "What's the point?"

"Everything has to go according to plan," he explained, as though that answered everything. And in a way, it did; Naruto was already looking at the bigger picture, and this would definitely cause a mess of things, but it would allow them to slip by. It had to. "This is one of the Five Great Nations; we can't afford to be sloppy."

* * *

Jibachi pointed to the board, begging the kunoichi before him to move. The go board was nearly full, and he was clearly winning, as he always did. That was probably one of the reasons why the three people who usually shared his post hated to play against him.

"C'mon, Kamizuru, why even bother?" the woman before him said, brushing a bang of brown hair out of her face. Jibachi grimaced at the degrading tone; the Kamizuru were a brilliant clan that deserved recognition, and Akane was just a stupid clanless bitch! "I'm going to lose anyway. Just stop already."

Their superior Madoka, the chunin captain with graying hair who'd served this post since the end of the last war, grunted loudly, his huge muscles nearly trembling with anger. "Would you two quit your damned arguing? You usually wait until after lunch, and I'm getting hungry." The black-haired man was the only one of their group actually looking through the wide opening at the border, watching for the trouble that would never come. The last of their group was the large, sleeping Daisuke, which was an ironic name after all, because he never actually managed to help.

Jibachi hated every one of them here, because they never, ever gave him respect. The Kamizuru Clan might have grown out of the graces of Iwagakure, but there was no reason they shouldn't be respected. The Shodaime Tsuchikage had been a member of the clan after all, and that practically made him royalty as far as Iwa should be concerned. He should've followed his brother Kurobachi into the Demolition Corps right from the start, but this was unnecessary.

He heard the familiar buzz creeping at his ear. It landed carefully on his finger, transmitting its message to him quickly with a tiny fluttering of its leg movements, before disappearing with a cloud of smoke.  _The smell of_   _burning ink?_

Almost immediately, a series of explosions rocked the foundation of the border post, the sound of cracking rock popping his ear drums. "Shit!" Madoka shouted. The post toppled over, threatening to tumble down the mountain, before another explosion did the deed.

Jibachi cut his finger and slammed it into the palm of his left hand.  **"Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!"** Several giant bees suddenly appeared, and Jibachi climbed onto the back of one of them just in time for another two bees to save the captain and the kunoichi, the last summon not fast enough to grab Daisuke. Jibachi realized quickly that he was most likely dead as the building crashed in a heap at the base of the mountain, dust and debris filling the sky.

Moving rapidly, a contingent of shinobi, nearly twenty if his count was accurate, bounded out of the trees and across the field, toward the border. They were extremely fast, in perfect form with their arms trailing behind their bodies.

"Kamizuru, put us down! Send one of your bees to warn the Tsuchikage!"

Jibachi nodded and directed the three bees to double back, dropping the other two directly in front of the group of shinobi fast approaching the border. The smallest and fastest bee summon flew directly to the northwest, toward the shinobi village. He stayed on the last one's back, using the other two summons from the air to provide support.

The enemies they were fighting had similar, very nondescript outfits of dark gray, black, and white, but weren't characteristic of ANBU or other black ops divisions. Although they did have the skill to sneak up on them and hit them with coordinated explosive tags, so they had to have _some_  skills. Their hitai-ate weren't directly visible from this close, but the general shape of their headband proved it wasn't a symbol he recognized. What was going on?

Madoka slammed his fist on the ground, opening a crevice in the earth that swallowed two enemies, slamming his other fist into a third the second he could. Akane was trying to support their captain with her genjutsu that was concentrated on using chakra-laden dust to fool the senses, before using shuriken to finish them off. It worked well, but none of them knew how to react when the bodies burst into smoke.  _Shadow clones?_

Jibachi whirled through hand-seals, flying hard and fast at the line of opponents and weaving in and out of the projectile volley sent to counter them. He summoned more of his smaller signature insects, already tied with explosive tags, a whole cloud of them descending on the enemies.  **"Hachi Bakudan no Jutsu (Bee Bomb Technique)!"**

In a ploy worthy of Kurobachi, his cloud of bees dropped to the ground, supplied with explosive tags that detonated the second they attached to the enemies, surely taking out a whole group. Akane and Madoka jumped back to the top of a cliff near Jibachi's height in the air.

But a crescent blade of solid air barreled through the smoke and hit him hard, strong enough to send him flying uncontrollably through the sky. The bee couldn't take the onslaught and dispelled for self-preservation, leaving him to crash into the canopy below.

* * *

Naruto, Karin, and Gaara fled the border the second they crossed it, not stopping for several hours of travel and using more clones to mask their actual route that could be tracked. It was a diversionary tactic that was not always successful, but considering that he just staged a massive attack on the border that ended with two dead Iwa shinobi, he had to admit the implications were daunting.

They didn't dare create a campfire when nightfall finally came, Karin constantly on the alert for any intruders. Gaara fiddled continuously with trying to control his sand, only able to generate enough power and control for a little more than handful at one time. Naruto sighed loudly, too loudly, when he realized that the boy would likely take more work to fix than either of them realized.

"What was that symbol you used on the headbands?" Karin asked after a time of considering it. "You never said on the way here."

Naruto shared a glance with Gaara, who seemed to understand that it must have something to do with the future. "Just a random symbol. I couldn't use any of the major villages because that kind of attack would surely start a war, and who wants that?"

He definitely didn't want that, but there was more involved than that.

"It was such a cool move, I honestly can't believe it worked," Karin said. "You're really good at thinking on your feet."

Naruto didn't have it in her heart to tell her he had successfully pulled that trick enough times you would need more than two hands to count. It was basic shinobi tactics, to send the bulk of your force ahead to distract the border patrol, long enough for the smaller force to head inside. Naruto's had a little more of his natural flavor, using transformed shadow clones. He regretted his decision not to use his  **Kage Bunshin Kyouko Fuin (Shadow Clone Stability Seal)** , if only because it would give them a body to find and they would have a clear enemy. But a shadow clone attack was already odd enough as it was, and Iwa would be busy trying to guard the border against further attacks.

There would be none, of course, in this situation. He remembered invading Kiri once using that exact tactic, of multiple border attacks with his own Henged clones to make people think it was someone testing the border, rather than actually crossing it. They'd never expected a single person to enter the border anyway, although in other scenarios, he'd brought in a team with him, like he had now. But that tactic had its own downsides, because it was even more difficult to get out once you were inside, and he wasn't convinced they were safe and would be able to stay for very long.

"We need to find a place to be safe, and fast," he said finally. "Iwa isn't going to take this lying down. They'll send tracker nin after us, and they'll probably scour the entire countryside for at least thirty or forty miles around this side of the border. We need to lay low." He drew a careful seal on a slip of sealing paper and placed it in the center of their small campsite. "They won't be able to track us by scent or sound now, but they can still see us and our trail. I have clones sending alternate trails all around for miles."

Gaara looked at it, un-trusting; after the new seal caused him so much pain and after-effects, Naruto couldn't blame him for looking like he wanted to rip the seal in half out of spite. "Why aren't we using one of those all the time?"

"The only viable way to do that would be to put it on your person, rather than tied to a specific camp like it is now," he explained. "This particular seal uses too much chakra from the wearer to be useful, especially for you two. All three of us might have higher chakra reserves for different reasons, but that doesn't mean we can do it forever."

Gaara didn't say anything, but Karin nodded, her shoulders tensed so tight she looked like she was stiff as board. Her hands were shaking lightly, but she clenched her fists tight. Naruto didn't know if she was shivering out of cold or out of fear, but she had the feeling it was combination of both. The late February air was getting colder now that they were leaving the humidity of the desert, and the mountains far in the distance didn't look particularly warm and inviting.

"You okay?" he asked. "You know it's okay to be scared, right?" Naruto could relate to the feeling that both Karin and Gaara were witnessing for the first time in their lives, because he felt it constantly. Even if the past was particularly calmer and less dangerous, Naruto still felt that considerable terror, although perhaps for different reasons.

The girl wanted to argue, Naruto could tell, but she accepted his words after he gave her a knowing look. "I can't help it. I've never done this before."

"Me neither," Gaara said immediately after she finished, tiny particles of sand flowing around his fingers as he tried to regain control. The signs of fear were present in him too, and it was one of the first times where he truly felt... horrible.

They were no more than children; what right did he have to bring them into this? What right did anyone have to train child soldiers? This... this was barbaric, a practice left over from the Clan Days before the hidden villages were established, where kids were used as manpower. It was one thing to train children to be survivors, to use skills in ways to survive. It was another to teach the theory behind slitting a man's throat, and he could almost hear Sakura's gasp from that day in the Academy, when Iruka demonstrated it on a dead pig and then forced them to do the same.

The D-ranks, and most C-ranks even, were supposed to be non-combat for genin, nothing more than glorified chores for team building and simple delivery missions. Jonin were there to fight in the event of a combat-related C-rank, and it was unlikely that most shinobi would ever be leaders in combat until they hit chunin and had to make the tough choices for the sake of the mission.

He'd never had time to take on his own genin team, choosing instead of remain on the frontlines during the months after the Alliance fell apart. It was not unlike how Kakashi must have felt, when he was absorbed into the ANBU black ops to hide from his pain. Naruto felt obligated to do more for all of Konoha, not just his sliver of it, and look where that got him.

He shook himself out of his reverie, realizing he was too focused on the old future, and not the new future he was going to create for the whole world. Meticulous planning aside, he had to go one step at a time, and right now, at this moment, he needed to find a safe place for them in Tsuchi no Kuni.

* * *

 _Pompous fool,_ the old man thought, realizing very swiftly that the Daimyo might be the most ridiculously self-centered man he had ever had the absolute pleasure of knowing. He slammed a fist lightly against his chair, a spasm going up his back that he had to be careful not to display.

"You really should retire, Ohnoki-san!" the lord of the land said, adjusting the stack of papers in his hand for possibly the twentieth time in the last half hour. "I can tell you're hurting. Kitsuchi-san, surely you coul-"

Ohnoki shoved that notion away literally, wincing again as he shared a look with his son and his bulbous nose. "Trust me, I'm fine. I've got a lot of life left to give in service of this village and Tsuchi no Kuni." It was a practiced statement, but one that earned the respect of the Daimyo every time he suggested it, at least once a month these days. "Besides, Kitsuchi would never accept the position."

His son nodded in agreement. "No, I wouldn't, Daimyo-sama. I wasn't build for leadership."

The lord looked him up and down with a careful eye. "You look fine to me, the spitting image of your father if he weren't so short. I take it you have possession of his famed skills?"

Ohnoki hated these meetings, because the old Daimyo was clearly going senile. They had discussed that none of Ohnoki's children or grandchildren possessed the  **Jinton (Dust Release)** so many times he had lost count over the years.

"No, Daimyo-sama, I don't," Kitsuchi explained.

"Well, that's odd. Surely you have groomed him for leadership, however," the man gave Ohnoki a careful eye. "That should have been your top priority, when he didn't have your fancy dusty powers. Preparing for the future of the village is important, you know, and it's more than just throwing around rocks."

He grunted at hearing the man go on and on about what a bad father and grandfather he was, and how that surely reflected on his record as the political leader of Iwagakure. What the Daimyo never realized was that the Tsuchikage is a soldier first and foremost, the stubborn rock that protects the people of that live behind it. Power is what secured his position, not whether or not he could sign paperwork or deal with council members breathing down his ass. Ohnoki might have gotten quite good at dealing with that aspect of it over the years, but it wasn't like that was his job to start with. Kitsuchi had a considerable amount of power, but lacked the drive to actually take the position. It was people like the Daimyo constantly telling him that the political side was the most important that got him to have cold feet, but Ohnoki was sure he would take the hat when the time was right, just as when he did from Muu.

"So we need to discuss the elephant in the room," the Daimyo finally said, holding the slip of paper in his hand. "It says here that you need money from a lack of mission bounty. Is that why you requested this meeting?"

Ohnoki sighed, sharing a look with Kitsuchi.  _This is hopeless if he's going to forget everything only minutes after we say it._  "Yes. High-profile missions have not been coming in very frequently these days, and a drought has hit hard. The village and the council are asking for more funds from the capital." The man was silently hoping that the answer would be different from before, but the Daimyo considered it and ultimately frowned.

"I'm afraid not. You simply need to materialize more clients. Surely this would be easy for the great Ryoutenbin!"

_Pompous fool..._

Just as he was considering pleading his case farther, because the village was in severe dire straits and had enough funds to continue operations as they were for only eighteen months, the door burst open to reveal a messenger genin.

"Tsuchikage-sama, Daimyo-sama, pardon the interruption. There's been an attack on the border in sector A-14!"

Ohnoki's back popped out of place without a single movement, as though to doubly spite him in that very moment. He cried out in shock, before refusing assistance to practically crawl to his feet, holding onto his cane carefully.

"Oh my! Tsuchikage, I need immediate protection from as many of your top ANBU you can manage! Someone has breached the village!"

Kitsuchi sighed, his frustration mimicking Ohnoki's. "No one has breached the village, Daimyo-sama. Sector A-14's nearly two hundred miles away, on the Kusa border."

Ohnoki was glad that his son had spared him from having to deal with that explanation, especially because they knew they'd have to say it all again in a few minutes. He was ready for this meeting to be over already. "Have they encountered the enemy directly?"

"They were a group of Kage Bunshin, sir," the genin explained. "We lost two shinobi in the attack, but the other two were able to stop them. They never found the origin of the shadow clones, but the attack seems to have settled very quickly after it began. It's been hours, but no one else has attacked."

Ohnoki scowled, already trying to work through a viable solution. "Any other defining features about these attackers?"

"The report suggests the uniforms matched, making it look like a single person created twenty clones," the messenger added, surprised himself by the idea of that much chakra. "The symbol on their hitai-ate was unlike anything we've ever seen before, in the shape of a musical note."

* * *

After almost three days of traveling, most of which was incredibly slow compared to his standards, Naruto led the group into a small town that was much farther into the interior of Tsuchi no Kuni than he intended. They were now surely southwest of where he knew Iwagakure was located.

The town was located in the center of a forested valley, along a wide, half-dried up river that ended in a lake almost thirty more miles to the west. It was very small, barely more than a tiny fishing village. From the focus of the docks, it looked as though it was the kind of town that basically sprang up because the river was used as a trade route to some of the bigger towns. It couldn't have a population of more than two hundred, if that.

"Ooh, this place is pretty," Karin said from their perch in the trees.

Gaara nodded in agreement. "It's really small and quaint, but probably poor."

"Yeah, which is just the kind of place we want," Naruto said, rubbing a hand through his now black hair. "It's so small that the town likely can't afford more than maybe one or two Iwa shinobi for protection, if that. They're so off the beaten path that I doubt they even think they need protection."

Karin glanced at him. "Well, how is that helpful? I mean, we're not going to attack them, are we?"

He laughed. "Of course not. We just need a place to lay low for a while, maybe avoid inns since Mui was able to find us in one last time."

"So are we going to sleep on the ground again?" Karin asked, groaning. "I don't mind it, usually, but I'd rather feel safe inside."

"Well, I have an idea that just might work," he said, grinning mischievously. "But I want to make sure you guys are okay with it first. So here's what I'm proposing we do."

* * *

Gaara led a crying Karin through the streets, and it took a bit more effort to bring false tears to his own eyes. The two were running, trying to get as much attention as possible on them.

"Someone, please help! Our brother has been...um kidnapped!" Gaara shouted, playing into the lie not very well.

Karin yelled as well, but she was better at this than he was. "Please, anyone... Ou-our brother's gone! Some m-men took him while we were hiking!"

Several people took notice, some trying to understand without saying anything, and others calling for help. One of them yelled for someone named Hiroshi, but Gaara wasn't paying attention to them. He was waiting for Karin to let him know when Naruto was ready.

"Come over here, kids!" a small black-haired woman carrying a basket of apples she had just bought from a fruit stand nearby ushered for the two of them to come over. Gaara thought about ignoring her and carrying on, but Karin seemed drawn to her so he followed. "What's going on, little ones?"

"We were hiking up near that mountain," Gaara said, pointing and trying to make his voice sound as high as possible, which was not incredibly difficult. "Some men surprised us and took away our brother, who was the only one who knew any jutsu!"

"We can't fight like he can, and they seemed really strong!" Karin practically shouted. "Our dad always told us that if we got in trouble on that mountain, we should head down the river to the nearest village and get some help."

The lady smiled, a hand on both of their shoulders. Gaara initially disliked the feeling, but forced himself not to recoil away from it. He had no idea who this woman is, and yet again, Naruto had tampered with his sand powers. "Your dad is a smart man."

"Was," Karin corrected quickly, a fresh tear running down her face.

"Oh, you poor children. My name is Masa. I'll try to get Hiroshi's attention; he's the shinobi on duty at the moment. Will you two stay here?" The two kids nodded, hoping they wouldn't have to stand on the side of the street forever.

The second the lady wandered off, some of the other people who lived there were looking at them like they were aliens, although most had concerned expressions on their faces. Karin had to relay the story twice already, in tears, because Gaara refused to lie anymore.

He trusted Naruto, but he disliked lying directly very much. He couldn't understand it at all, although he knew he lived in a shinobi world where lying and secrets were almost necessary.

He'd always been an articulate speaker; he'd read a lot from Yashamaru's small little gathering of books. He still didn't know what a vagina was, but when Kankuro had given him hell for reading porn, whatever that was, he avoided the collection of orange books.

Most of the books he read on that shelf were all about shinobi tactics.  _The Art of War,_ by Orochimaru of the Sannin, was an interesting perspective, but Yashamaru had had to tell him what ninety percent of it really meant, in retrospect. But from an intelligence standpoint, it made sense for Naruto to lie to him,  _to them_ , because it allowed him to guide the situation where he needed it to go. If he was telling the truth about being from the future, which he had no real reason to doubt based on everything he knew, then the other jinchuuriki only needed to tell some people and not others. Gaara was glad that he could be counted in the "some people" category, but lying still bothered him. People had lied to him his whole life; the world was a lying world, and that isn't an excuse. He constantly needed people to trust and people to trust in him.

Karin was right to want to know the truth from him, but now that he did know the truth, he didn't know what to do about it. Did he ask what his life would be like in the future? Did Naruto know who he married, who his kids were, if he had any? What was his career like then? Had he made an impact on Sunagakure, or had he left the village for other pursuits?

He would ask those questions one day, but right now, he was sure he needed to be prepared for whatever plan Naruto had to make this look real. One step at a time, there's no need to rush.

There was a popping noise, and Karin lightly brushed her fingers against his wrist: the signal. Gaara could hear where it was coming from, and immediately pointed in that direction animatedly. "They're over here! They have my brother! Someone help us!"

The Iwagakure chunin named Hiroshi, an old man who looked far too out of his element, moved more quickly toward them and leaped from building to building until he finally found the identical culprits, stealing what  _he_  thought was a black-haired little boy. He drew a sword from his back, a katana with a rusty edge, and prepared to run the enemies through.

"Let him go!"

"Please help me!"

The fight scene was over as quickly as it started. Naruto was dropped to the ground unceremoniously, as one of them went down from a diagonal slash to the back of the throat and then dispelled. Men were felled left and right, vanishing as soon as they did. The sixty-year-old man was doing exceptionally well, even if it was really Naruto guiding the terms.

The boy, or perhaps man if Gaara thought hard enough about the time traveler, ran over to join them as the remaining men fled, loudly shouting that they were performing Shunshin and disappearing in a burst of smoke. The redhead suspected they were really just dispelling and making it look fancy.

When Hiroshi was sure he was out of danger, he ran over to them, breathing hard from battle fatigue. "Who were they? What did they want?"

Naruto shook his head. "I don't know! Are you going to go after them, shinobi-san?" Gaara and Karin repeated his sentiment, practically beginning Hiroshi to appear.

Masa walked forward and once again grabbed the redheaded boy's shoulders, in a protective manner that made him flinch. "Don't worry, I have them, Hiroshi-san. You go." The kind-looking man nodded and then disappeared. "C'mon, dears, I'll take care of you," Masa said, gesturing for them to follow her.

Gaara was amazed that Naruto had set up that entire situation, using the same men as before to make it look like the shinobi had crossed the border and were this far into their territory. The musical note headbands were the same. He didn't know how Iwa would respond, and doubted that Naruto would be able to predict it. Unless this had happened in the past, and Naruto was repeating every single step? He'd said he was going to change the future, but could he? Was this fated to happen?

* * *

It was hours before Karin was certain that she felt safe in Masa's farm, although she supposed she felt safe wherever Naruto and Gaara were at this point. Her eyes flashed downward in memory of what had happened at the border, seeing the two men dying, their chakra flickering and then fading to nothingness, as dark as her surroundings.

Naruto would protect her and protect Gaara from that fate; he had no choice but to make those hard decisions, so driven by his goal of uniting the jinchuuriki and saving them from their fates that it amazed her. He put his ambition in front of his morality, able to defeat the two people at the border and spare the others, although it looked as though both had died indirectly. One day, she would have the power to help him, but it would take a lot more training over a period of years for her to feel accomplished about it.

Still, even then, she felt sympathy for them. It was their job to be the border guards, to watch their sliver of Tsuchi no Kuni's edges and stop whoever came across. Naruto acted like this nation was different, but when Naruto originally passed into the border of Kaze no Kuni to take Gaara, or passed out of that border and through Ame no Kuni, did he kill more guards along the way? Or had they been as ill-guarded as Naruto made them out to be?

"Did you find everything okay?" a kind voice asked her from the hallway. Karin turned and nodded, adjusting her glasses. Out of the peripheral of her vision, as she was turning, her heart raced like it could have been a younger version of Keiko staring at her. But she forced herself to calm down when she realized it was merely Masa waiting at the door to Karin's guest room.

"Yes, Masa-san. I'm fine," she said, smiling. "You might want to ask the other guys though. I doubt Daichi could find his way out a paper bag."

She laughed as she agreed, walking down the hall to the boys' shared room. She asked them something, but Karin was no longer paying any attention, shutting the door calmly and falling flat on the too stiff bed.

Tears were falling uncontrollably from her eyes, and she resigned to cry herself to sleep, not even bothering to take off her clothes or get under the covers. She reached up and adjusted the pillows, her fingers running along the oak wood headboard and finding something notched along it.

A word was etched into the wood, but it was unintelligible now after years of wear, and it looked like someone had scratched it out after the message had settled. Either way, the message was the same: she felt alienated in this new house, knowing she didn't belong. Not a single one of them deserved to belong in the house; they were here because Naruto manipulated someone in the village to take them in, while they figured out a game plan and waited out the period where Iwa would be watching the borders. Naruto had been sure it would only be a couple weeks before the situation died down, but Karin didn't think they could be so lucky. She'd voted to accept it after Gaara did, but now, she wasn't as sure.

_If only Keiko was alive..._

* * *

"You're not going to tell me anything more about the future, are you?"

Naruto groaned lightly, knowing it was probably after two or three in the morning, and Gaara was still awake and talking to him. He'd expected the boy's insomnia to drift away after the seal was adjusted, but it had not gone away completely. He could sleep for a few hours at a time, at most, and usually had trouble allowing his thoughts to go down that road.

"Probably not for a long time, when I know it's safe to share the details I know," he said after a time. As far as he was concerned, he  _would_  tell the details eventually, but that wasn't the reason.

Naruto wanted to keep the details of that timeline private, carrying it around like a badge that was his and his alone, because he would forge a world that was better than that world. That was his burden to share only when it was necessary, and no seven-year-old needed to know anything about the horrors he had witnessed in those last few months.

"Was it bad?" the boy asked after another few moments, sounding conflicted. "That might be a dumb question, because you wouldn't go back unless you had a reason to want to change it. But-"

"Yes."

"Yes what?"

"Yes, it was bad." He said solemnly. "There were parts that were good. But most of it was bad, especially the last two years. Famine. War. Disease." He shuddered at the last word, angrily clenching his fist. "But none of that should scare you now, because there's no way in hell I'm going to let that happen."

"How can you be sure?" the boy asked, and Naruto froze. "How do you know you won't make something worse happen?"

"Because I won't." He sounded more confident than he felt, unable to sleep even after Gaara finally started to snore.

* * *

Weeks passed before Naruto felt comfortable there. He never would have expected to find sanctuary in Tsuchi no Kuni, but he was letting down his guard around Masa and his friends. She had done a lot of good for him and their group, and he could feel the bond that Karin shared with her. Even Gaara, whom he had not really expected, took to her very quickly. He suspected that it was because the boy had a mother figure, something he had not really had, and it was good for him. Healthy even.

He got a cold reminder that the world was not comfortable when the four of them visited the small graveyard on the outskirts of town, because Masa needed to, and Karin and Gaara dragged him along to support her. It didn't take much convincing however, but he wished he hadn't had to see it.

It was her husband's grave, a simple headstone that didn't have much decoration. From all the stories he had heard, Naruto expected that the man had a name on a memorial stone in Iwagakure somewhere too, for bringing pride to the village and to Tsuchi no Kuni as a whole.

"I'll never forgive Konoha for this," the woman said, and Naruto's heart stopped. He brought a hand up, checking to make sure his hair was still hidden under the Henge. "The Yellow Flash tore my life apart. Han was too young to remember him, but I wish the boy had gotten the father he deserved." She practically dropped into Karin's arms, the two consoling each other.

Naruto audibly gasped, too focused on the name she mentioned. He hadn't been very good with names, especially for people he'd only met once, but he knew very clearly who she was talking about. And the implications were terrifying.

It had to be a coincidence. Luck. Divine intervention. Fate. Whatever. There was no way that he had lucked into finding a way into Han's life. It was just impossible. Surely there were tons of Han's out there. It couldn't be right, could it?

"Your son is  _the_ Han?" he asked suddenly, thinking through a way to decipher this information. "The guy who developed steam-powered armor!?" Karin and Gaara looked at him like he had developed a second head.

Masa smirked through her tears. "He wishes! That was one of his designs when he was little. I'll let you look through his design book one day. He left it behind when they recruited him for some secret project years ago."

Naruto just smiled, hand on his stomach as he recognized the secret project very well. "I'd like that very much. Thank you."

* * *

Ohnoki read the report carefully, already dreading what had to be done. He wished his wife was still alive, so he could have her strengthen his opinion the decision he would have to make.

A town almost one hundred miles from here seemed to have been abetting the very people who could be responsible for the sensitive border attack over two months ago. They had no definable background, just three kids whose story clearly didn't match the lies they were telling. The report from a chunin named Hiroshi was inconclusive, however, but it was strongly recommended to advise the problem. He barely realized that the town was familiar to him for a hugely important reason, but that had been a thorn in his side for too long.

Such an odd circumstance with a child far younger than genin age performing a forbidden technique like the Kage Bunshin, and even more odd that rumors were going around that a blond-haired, blue-eyed kid was spotted. The attack on the border... It was all related.

He crumbled the paper in his hands, anger flowing through him. He had to channel that anger into something positive, and this course of action would have to do.

* * *

Karin repeated her daily routine, washing clothes and feeding the pigs. She had hated it at first, but her whole attitude changed when the old sow Betsy, quite possibly the strangest and most foreign name she'd ever heard, had the cutest baby piglets in the world. Now she practically loved all of them like they were her children.

It didn't take her long to pick up on all the cues of Masa's farm, only a few days after their arrival. She loved it there because the woman seemed to have the same personality as Keiko: sweet, compassionate, and apparently "strict as hell" according to Naruto, but she didn't agree. Gaara and Naruto mostly trained together, and after a little over two months, the former was finally getting some control back, enough to consciously guide a lot more sand correctly.

Karin herself mainly focused on the farm and helping Masa, since the woman had done so much for them and was so kind and generous; the girl believed the woman's sincerity completely, but she had trouble lying to her about why they were here. She went along with all of it, as expected. But it still bothered her.

"I know lying is tough," Naruto had reminded her when she had to tell Masa what 'their parents' had been like, "but it's all a part of the game."

"Fine. But which game are you talking about? The one where we dupe an old lady into giving us food, shelter, clothing?"

"In exchange for all three of us helping with chores around the farm, and helping her pay her bills," A fresh out of the shower blonde Naruto had said, taking out the money from his little wallet shaped like a frog, having sold a lot of fish and worked small odd jobs around the town for that money. He put it down and then re-performed his Henge, once more transforming into his persona 'Daichi.' "It's not like we're dead weight around here. She's just hiding us and letting us plan."

"For what?" the girl had asked again.

She hadn't gotten a direct answer there, but she knew that the plan was to get the two jinchuuriki to come with them, and to stay as long as it took to do that. She'd asked on another occasion, and he'd basically said, "Think about it like you're training on how to be a spy and infiltrate an enemy camp."

Karin had not responded to that, but it had upset her to view Masa like lying to her was preparing for an enemy. She didn't fully understand the shinobi world she lived in, but it seemed incredibly wrong to do anything like that to this sweet lady, who reminded her so much of her great aunt Keiko.

But as she finished her chores and headed inside, something hit on the edge of her mental radar, heading straight for them very fast. She turned toward the barn just in time to see something brimming with chakra hit the farmhouse. _  
_

Alarmed, Karin was halfway across the yard before she was suddenly blasted backwards by the explosion that tore the roof to pieces. She landed hard with her back against the wall of the barn, a long chunk of the porch jutting from her ankle. She screamed in pain, but the shock set in seconds. She was barely conscious as something else exploded, sending more debris flying through the yard. Her mental vision from the Kagura Shingan revealed that the perpetrators were still coming, but she lost consciousness before she could check the inside of the house.


	8. Dropping the Bomb

Looking at the calendar, Masa counted the days. It had only been a few days since her yearly visit to her husband's grave, and there were six more until her birthday. Han was sure to come home then, as he always did on major holidays. He had become too distant over the years, and the visits seemed to be much more frequent. He used to go with her to visit with his father's grave, but nowadays, Han ignored her invitations. Masa was frustrated, but accepted it anyway. The boy wasn't a boy anymore, at eighteen, however, so she knew she couldn't expect him to always be there. It was unfair of her.

She peeked through her window at the barn, knowing that the three children were all out there, doing their chores and playing. She couldn't wait for Han to show up so she could introduce them, because she was really growing to love them like her own.

A smile crossed her face as she finished washing the plate, drying it carefully and placing it in the cabinet. She gripped the cabinet hard, ignoring the uneasiness in her joints, before slacking and heading outside to see if they wanted dinner early.

Trekking across the yard, she remembered all the times when little Han would run around, picking up daffodils and presenting them to her. There were odd moments when Gaara reminded her of Han when he was little; he had always been a reserved child growing up, spending a lot of time drawing or reading. Han was whip smart, and every once in a while, she received money in the mail that Han earned not through missions, but through his inventions. Most were redesigns of existing weapons, all oriented toward combat; the one time he branched out from that, he tried to design a spoon/fork fusion that just didn't sell.

She knew nothing about his missions, though, but it worried her that she never heard talk of him doing missions at all. Was everything he was doing so secretive that she couldn't even know he was an active shinobi, or did he spend so much time drawing diagrams of his designs because he didn't often get missions?

Masa pushed all of that talk out of her mind as she headed into the barn, pushing the huge door open and then realizing something was wrong. She could hear their voices, but they were obviously hiding from her, because the barn was empty of her kids.

Carefully looking around, she confirmed that they weren't here, nor were they hiding from her, and they certainly weren't outside. What was going on?

She stepped on a particularly dense pile of hay, instantly regretting it because something was just wrong with the ground underneath it. It seemed too loose, reminding her of the beach she went to when she was little.

She could hear the voices more clearly now, along with laughter and some kind of talk that sounded like someone was giving advice. "C'mon, Gaara, you can do it!"  _Karin?_

"What do you suggest that I do about that, Naruto?"  _Gaara?_

 _And who is Naruto?_ Had Daichi and his friends invited someone from town here? But where were they, exactly?

She looked down and shifted some of the hay away, revealing hole that lead underground, lined with soft sand and torn up soil. It was wide enough for two people to fit into, leading down underneath the barn. Her kids were down there, but something was inherently wrong with this.

She backed away carefully, unsure. If she went down there, what would she see? These children were so close to her, but did she know much about them? Something was wrong here... What if she went and investigated, only to find one of them performing ritualistic sacrifice or something?

Masa hurried out of the barn, perhaps against her better judgment, knowing she needed to head into town to get Hiroshi to look this over. She was too scared to look herself, but this was seriously suspicious and she suddenly felt downplayed, manipulated, even violated somehow.

* * *

Hiroshi hurried much faster than he normally would, knowing he needed to gather intelligence before making a hasty message to the leadership of Iwagakure. Jumping from building to building, he poured on the speed and arrived at Masa's farm. The sweet little lady didn't deserve this, but yet, here she was, potentially holding some dangerous people. They were kids, however, so how dangerous could they really be? Masa overreacted, however, like she always did.

He hadn't believed her at first, because any time he had ever interacted with Daichi or with Karin, he hadn't had a problem with either of them. Gaara mostly took to himself, but even then, there was a sort of familiarity between them. He was sure of it.

But now he didn't know what to believe. There was no record of them ever existing in the town they said they grew up in, over the next mountain pass. He knew because he had checked himself hours ago. Their background didn't match up, and for all he knew, they were just free loaders.

Leaping toward the barn with practiced stealth, he finally arrived and snuck in through the upper window, moving carefully in case of some kind of attack. He frowned and chastised himself for thinking they were bad.

He carefully touched the ground and immediately slinked to the wall, hiding behind a crate in case someone came in. A secret base underneath the barn? That was one of the most outlandish things she had said, making it hard to follow her story.

The sensor-nin placed both of his palms flat on the ground and pulsated his chakra, using his earth affinity to feel the ground below him. Extending it around carefully, he discovered the makeshift basement and the tunnel that lead to it, his eyes widening. He couldn't feel many more details than that, but he knew there was at least one person down there, but that person wasn't moving.

He was thankful that Masa must have the three kids busy doing something away from the house, because he slipped inside their tunnel and hurried down the passage, wishing there was a more secretive way to move than this. He felt like he was opening himself up to danger.

It was so deep that voices and other noises still traveled to the top, but when he finally found the cavern, he understood why. It was so large that it echoed in an impossible way, easily as long as the house itself, but not deep. Torches burned along the walls, and tiny holes above him fed oxygen into the light somehow, going straight up at an unnatural angle.

The walls were made of sand, some of it billowing on the floor, and the room seemed very round, like all the corners had been rounded off in an interesting way.  _This is definitely not a natural cavern._

There were supplies and weapons stockpiled, an array of kunai and shuriken and other tools. A quick glance at the box revealed they were stolen property, a shipping number matching one he had investigated a month ago. Medicine, food, it was all there, enough for a large group of people to survive for several days. There were several scrolls inside of a bag lying on the floor, sand billowing around it because the walls seemed to be relatively unstable, despite the hard-packed walls.

More troubling, however, was the body laying on top of the wooden table. The body appeared to be desiccating, and the revelation there was a dead body, the scent somehow masked, was terrifying. He analyzed it carefully, unsure of how he was going to handle it, and his eyes widened in shock.

It matched all the reports he had read of the attack on the border, but this one obviously was not a shadow clone. He gulped and immediately wanted to back away, to get as far away from this place as possible. The musical note headband was burned in his mind, and there was something much greater going on.

He cast a quick genjutsu on himself, just enough to conceal his presence, before practically running out of the tunnel as quickly as he could. When he got to the surface level, he was shocked to see someone walking into the room, a black-haired boy he immediately recognized as Daichi. The kid closed the door to the barn, heading straight for his position, and he had to hold his breath as he carefully moved away from the tunnel's entrance, obscured by the hay and a loose few boards.

To his utter shock, the boy looked around and carefully raised his fingers, a Henge falling away with an expert hand and revealing a blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy with whiskers on his cheeks. The boy's eyes met his own and a smirk hit his face. Hiroshi moved so fast out of the window on the upper floor of the barn, he was afraid the genjutsu would fall away.

_Konoha's Yellow Flash!_

* * *

Karin loosely pulled herself to her feet, terrified after the explosions riddled the house nothing more than a framework of boards and loosely held together walls. Half of the house was no longer anywhere near the foundation, some of it going as far as the behind the barn from the sheer power of that explosion.

The second she managed to catch her breath, she had to decide what to do: inside the house, Masa had been making dinner and Gaara was supposed to be helping her, but the mission gear was in the hideout and she supposed their mission was over now, and they needed to get out of there as quickly as they could. Could they afford to leave that stuff behind, or would someone else get the opportunity to grab it?

Still, she hurried toward the house, praying to whatever gods there were above to not have another explosion kill her right there, because that would have been surely ridiculous. She bit her the top side of her arm carefully, relishing the pain and hoping the influx of recovery chakra would help her wounds as fast as possible.

The kitchen was on the other side of the house, but when she finally found it, the ceiling and part of the roof had fallen inward. She could barely hear coughing coming from within, and there had to be someone behind that, safe!

She slid into the room through a small gap in the center, glad for her short stature for once, before carefully crawling over to them. There wasn't enough room to stand, and the only thing holding it up was the kitchen counter and cabinets on that corner able to support the weight for at least a few minutes.

Sand lay useless on the ground, most of it peeling from Gaara's skin in a haphazard attempt. Ever since the seal, the boy's had trouble mimicking the sand armor, and it showed here because his face was marred by burns, his arm hit hard by debris, and something sticking from his leg.

Masa was unconscious next to him, sand covering half her body, and it looked like he had tried to save her, but couldn't totally protect her. She was in much worse shape, based on her chakra flow alone, and Karin knew they both had to have her now, or they would die.

She stuck her fingers directly into their mouths and forced them to bite down, hard enough to leave scars where her ring fingers should be. It would have to be enough, because she was too scared to move them closer to her so she could have them bite her forearms.

Her powers had to help them now, because if they didn't, who would they help?

It seemed like several minutes before she heard unfamiliar voices, and every single part of her wished that she knew something combat oriented. She had never had the opportunity to learn something that could help directly in fighting, although Naruto claimed he would help her learn how to use her chains. He'd mainly focused on getting Gaara's control back, and a lot of it had returned, but not enough, as she was sitting here trying to heal the two of them. If he had been up to one hundred percent, Karin wondered if he could have defended both of them from the attack without even trying, or if the end result would still be the same.

Someone approached the fallen ceiling and she couldn't see past it, but could feel his chakra and immediately, she wished there was a way to hide from sight. It wasn't anyone she knew, and it definitely wasn't Naruto, although she wished the boy was here now so much.

"You sure they're behind here?"

"Yes, both of us had the bird's eye view, after all," another unfamiliar voice called out from above, yelling like he was a giant standing over them nearly fifty feet in the air. She could sense that he was actually flying one some kind of bird, and everything was terrifying.

The other person flying, on a giant bee not unlike the battle Naruto's clones had against the border, scoffed. "Don't you mean a bee's eye view?"

"Oh, shut up, Kamizuru. Let's not get into the birds and the bees."

"At least mine is a real bee! Yours is some weird abomination."

"If my abomination you mean a beautiful piece of art that comes from a kekkei genkai, then yeah, sure. But I'll bet you wish your clan had it so it could stay relevant. But now, you're one of the only two left. How does that feel to be?"

Whoever was behind the ceiling had been listening the whole time, and turned up to them. "Would you two shut the hell up?! Kurobachi, can you please act like a commanding officer?"

Karin witnessed the man grab the ceiling, prepared to launch it. She impulsively made a decision, unlatching her hand from Gaara's mouth and reaching into her coat, producing a kunai. As soon as the man raised the ceiling off of them with effortless strength no doubt increased by chakra, the kunai was embedded in the man's thigh.

He suddenly screamed out and kicked her at the same time, before dropping the ceiling. Karin felt an immense sense of relief and guilt suddenly wash over her in the same moment, but she had not thought things through.

* * *

If it were possible to be annoyed at their progenitor, since they were technically all the same person, he felt it at that moment. He understood how necessary it was for Naruto to have eyes and ears on everything, but sometimes, he wondered if it was really necessary  _all_  the time.

He groaned inaudibly, realizing that he was becoming self-aware, questioning his existence, and that was a sign that he had been alive for far too long. He wondered if it would be a good idea to dispel, just to spite his face, but before he could, he spotted someone rounding the bend and entering the valley, and he smiled brilliantly.

He had to wait just a bit longer, but when the older teenager came into view, wearing a red sugegasa and matching clothes, he wanted to shout with confirmation. This would be the second of eight jinchuuriki, and Naruto had been most worried about contacting Roshi and Han because of where they were located. He had never interacted with them inside the old timeline, although they had met once when he defeated the Edo Tensei jinchuuriki. He had known next to nothing about Han except for the steam armor he had invented before he inexplicably was lucky enough to find where Han had come from, staying in his mother's house.

It seemed weird to see him in normal clothing, because he wasn't wearing his armor. Masa didn't seem to know if he had invented it yet, but since he was only eighteen, the clone doubted it. Either way, he was one hundred percent certain that Han was coming, and would arrive at the house shortly, probably to celebrate his mother's birthday.

The clone grinned once, proud of his luck, before dispelling to let Naruto know what was going on.

* * *

When the ceiling burst apart with a contained explosion, dry wall splattered against her face but she managed to avoid injury, still trying to keep Masa alive. Her head smacked hard against the cabinet behind her, screwing up her vision. A shape burst into the room from the window and stood in front of her, the sound of a blade entering flesh the only thing she could focus on. She wanted to puke, reminded of her own kunai attack that had proven virtually ineffective, and when her vision finally revealed, a shinobi stood in front of her, the third member of the attack team dead now, his throat slashed and a kunai embedded in his thigh.

She recognized what was going on immediately, the familiar Henged disguise from the border attack. _Naruto... I'm safe with him here, now._

"Fantastic! I can't believe that we're so lucky to have met one of you," the blonde Iwa shinobi riding on what looked like an odd owl with pure white skin, chakra flowing through it and its master. It flapped lightly to hover in the air, but it didn't move at all like a normal animal, and it was clear that it wasn't. The product of some kind of ninjutsu, she was sure. "What have you been doing inside the border?"

"Nothing much. Just testing you for a later date, to be perfectly honest. I'm nothing more than a scout for the major forces."

The Kamizuru shinobi pondered him, holding onto the bee's head. "Isn't that a little too honest? Are you really revealing your plan so easily, or is this all meaningless?"

The disguised Naruto just grinned beneath the mask, only his eyes visible. "You saw through that, didn't you? I suppose it doesn't matter what you think our plans are, because you'll never figure them out. If anything, I've proven how easily it is that I can infiltrate your borders at any moment. Do you know easy it would be to let more in?"

Another few precious seconds passed, and Karin was honestly surprised that they hadn't attempted to attack him for making what could be construed as a threat.

"Who are you working for? What does that symbol on your forehead mean?" The blonde shinobi asked, hair coming down to show only one side of his face.

Karin was interested in this herself, because she had seen the disguise he was using before this. In the base, there was a body of a clone prepared with a stabilizing seal on it, and she'd studied it, despite the smell produced by a very minor genjutsu centered on the odd musical note.

"It removes the challenge of you figuring it out if I spill the beans, doesn't it?" the shinobi in disguise said.

"What about those kids?" asked the bee summoner. "And where's the Yellow Flash boy so I can destroy him?"

The disguised Naruto smirked. "What about them?"

"How is it that they are working with you? You're defending the one behind you, aren't you?"

The shinobi didn't turn around, but they had gone through this part of the plan before, in case something went wrong. "I'm defending them, but not because they are working with us, but because they are our prisoners."

There was a long moment where no one said anything, but when she felt chakra surge, she immediately cried out. "Someone help!"

The effect was nearly instantaneous. Surrounded by smoke, her entire grip on reality faded for a short moment, and she was suddenly in the forest, halfway up the valley that overlooked the farmhouse. There was another explosion in the house, loud enough she could hear it from where they were, probably half a mile away. The smoke billowed up the air, alerting them to everyone around, most likely. Masa and Gaara were lying unconscious beside her, and the real Naruto, out of Henge, was standing next to them.

"How'd you do that?" Karin asked, amazed.

"My clones substituted themselves with you," he said as though it were the simplest explanation in the world. "Had to get you out of there, and I honestly wasn't sure it would work. But I'm going back. Stay here and heal the two of them."

"Wait!" she said, her mind still fluttering with questions. "How'd they find us?"

The blonde looked up a moment, thinking. "I guess they must have seen the real me, or maybe they found the body in the hideout. Either way, it doesn't matter. I have to get rid of them."

* * *

Seeing Deidara was quite possibly the most unexpected moment he had had in a long time, but knowing that he could change the landscape of the Akatsuki in such a huge way was fantastic. All he had to do was defeat the enemy before him, which was probably easier said than done.

Was Deidara always an S-Class shinobi? He highly doubted it, but there was no way he could defeat an S-Class shinobi all by himself if he was that strong. There were several years between now and then, and the kid was barely genin age, and he would be shocked if the boy was a chunin yet. Despite that discrepancy with his age, he still had to worry about how skilled he was, because his  **Bakuton (Explosion Release)**  was a terrifyingly powerful kekkei genkai, regardless of his age. Even still, Naruto had the advantage, he was sure of it.

He was honestly more worried about the other shinobi, who was significantly older and probably more skilled. He was a Kamizuru, from the use of his bees, and while his brother had been significantly easy to take down with a well place Fuuton ninjutsu, he couldn't be one hundred percent sure that it would be that easy to do here.

And even then, he still had Han to worry about, because he was going to be here soon and would find his mother's home destroyed by the ninjutsu of his fellow Iwagakure shinobi. Naruto had to figure out a way to spin the situation so that it was in his favor, despite the fact that he looked like the spitting image of Minato. How would Han react, especially knowing that Han's father was one of the shinobi that died during the war to the future Yondaime Hokage's Hiraishin?

The second he arrived at the farmhouse that looked more like a battlefield, he found several of his clones fighting against the flying enemies, still disguised as Otogakure members.

Due to their flight patterns, it was difficult to hit them, especially because this Kamizuru was a better flier than the other. Analyzing his clone's memories, he realized that Deidara was either holding back quite a bit or was lacking several of the skills he displayed later in life, which was good news for him. The guy wasn't a prodigy.

Naruto hid in the trees and watched, trying to decide if it would be better to fight as himself, or fight in disguise. He had used up quite a lot of chakra, but he was so accustomed to fighting in disguise that he doubted it would be an issue. He transformed carefully and summoned more shadow clones, silently communicating that he wanted Deidara dead.

Flickering through hand seals, he quickly felt the wind rushing around his fingertips.  **"Fūton: Shinkuugyoku (Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere)!"**  Deeply inhaling, he suddenly blasted wind chakra through the air, the technique so strong he could see the wind trails solidify and pierce through the tops of the trees in front of him, aiming to impale both of the flying shinobi.

"Shit! Kurobachi, look out behind you!" Deidara tossed one of his clay creatures and made a seal, enlarging it into what looked like a very fat bird, absorbing the impact of the attack before exploding, masking the area in a smoke cloud.

The other Kamizuru expertly leaped upward from bee to bee, sacrificing summon after summon to finally avoid the wide birth of the attack, before diving directly down at the group of clones all throwing projectiles in his direction. He used his own Fuuton attack, in combination with some kind of acid that his bee spat from his mouth, creating an entire cloud of green mist that had to be poison. The real Naruto avoided it, circling around easily while holding his breath, before running along the side of the collapsed wall and jumping directly into the sky.

He was planning another Fuuton attack from mid-air, but he barely drew his tanto in time to cut a bee in half. But the bee stuck to his sword, suddenly becoming like sticky honey, and then started to heat up and explode. He managed to throw the now ruined tanto away as he fell to the ground, rolling the second he did to avoid a clay spider that exploded at his feet.

"We have him now! This guy has to be their leader!" Deidara shouted excitedly. "Bask in the glory of my art!"

An entire onslaught of claw spiders and tiny exploding bees suddenly swarmed him from all sides, but he was prepared for that. Smacking his hand on the ground, a seal suddenly erupted and the attacks collided with a relatively weak barrier, shimmering with glowing orange ink as they exploded harmlessly against the dome covering him. A layer of smoke gave him the advantage, but as more bees threatened to surround him, he hurled several kunai in a deliberate way, widely missing Deidara.

The shinobi just laughed. "Seriously? You've got tons of odd experience, but you can't throw a kunai?"

"I don't have to throw it," he answered, and suddenly there were four clones surrounding the ground underneath him, stabbing the kunai into the ground.  **"Raiton: Shichuu Shibari (Lightning-Release: Four Pillar Bind)!"**

Lightning chakra raced through the kunai, rising into the sky and arcing over it, supercharging the inside of the barrier with electricity. Deidara screamed as it ran through him, electrocuting him and rendering his bird completely useless. Naruto realized he suddenly owed a lot to Sasuke, both good and bad, and the knowledge that Deidara's kekkei genkai was useless when lightning chakra was involved was one of the good things. It was the only Raiton ninjutsu he knew, and it had taken him months to get it down, to add a kind of binding technique to his repertoire.

Kurobachi was still there, but when he realized his partner suddenly couldn't move, he cursed. "I hope you realize the full might of Iwagakure will come down on you! Your people killed my brother, and you are trespassing in Tsuchi no Kuni! You'll never leave this place alive!"

He made a summoning seal on his palm, an entire swarm of bees, numbering in the hundreds, coming in response. Their explosive tags billowed in the wind, but Naruto was already ready with a hand-seal. When they all descended on the area, destroying each and every clone and avoiding Deidara's unconscious body, the entire landscape went up in flames, destroying any sign that the woman had ever lived there. Her fields, the fields he had tilled for her, were totally obliterated in a massive explosion that was worthy of the commanding officer.

In Naruto's place was the dead clone, the clone that he had hidden in the hideout, and the real Naruto was underground, thankful he had placed seals that would structurally support stronger explosions than that.

Quickly sealing all of their belongings in one larger seal, attaching it to his back, he disappeared with a Shunshin and removed those seals, allowing the hideout to collapse under the weight of the now disturbed earth.

A surprise dispel from one of his surveying clones revealed the interesting information, and he realized just then that it was happening. Hiding in the trees and watching as Kurobachi picked up the dead body of the clone he left behind, he grinned.

* * *

Han was one hundred percent something was wrong the first time that he smelled the smoke, coming from the valley. He sped up when he finally saw where it was coming from, hoping that it was all a ruse, and that it couldn't be true. In one day, his whole world fell apart, proving that life was as terrible as the village wanted him to believe. Any hope he had was thrown out the window.

The farm was destroyed, every bit of destroyed, like someone had deliberately hit it with the strongest explosives in the world. He was taken aback when he saw the perpetrators, knowing that it had to be them. From what he could tell, a battle had been waged between that strangely dressed shinobi and two members of the Demolition Corps. But the entire thing had to have been destroyed by the latter, not the former, because it would be just like them to get back at him.

"What have you done?!" he yelled, an abnormal rage falling over the usually calm man as he ran to demand answers from the bee summoner. "Where's my mom?"

The Kamizuru clan member tried to say something, an obvious excuse, but he wouldn't accept their bullshit anymore. "She's dead, isn't she?"

"No, she's not." Han turned in time to see three kids walking forward, one of them practically stumbling, with the girl and the blonde boy in the middle walking toward the destroyed farm. On their shoulders was his very unconscious mother, part of her face burned from the attack. "We saved her, sir. We got her out of the house as soon as we could, when they attacked."

Instantly, Han felt the anger rising to the surface, directed at the Kamizuru. He wanted to kill him, and from the way the man flinched, he could tell the killing intent was powerful. It was honestly surprising to Han that he could emit such a force, because it wasn't his usual fair.

The bee summoner pointed to the dead body over his shoulder. "No, Han, you have to understand what's happening."

"Why should I? The Tsuchikage never tells me anything unless I need to hit something like only I can," he said. "I don't get all the inside information like everyone else. It looks like you got into a fight and didn't care that you nearly killed my mother, didn't bother to sneak her out of the house first."

"No, look. We were ordered to destroy this place because it was being used as a hideout for someone connected to the border attacks," he pointed to the man on his shoulder. "This guy kidnapped these three kids, which I guess was their fault; if I could kidnap the son of the Yellow Flash, I would; I'd tie him up and torture him in front of the square, so everyone could have their catharsis." He looked threateningly at the kid, who did not move or even flinch at his words.

"You won't touch him," Han said immediately, stepping in between the two groups. He felt strongly about this; maybe he should think it through more, but he knew this to be true. And when he was sure of something, he was  _sure_  of it. "I don't care who his father is, even if he  _is_  the Yellow Flash's son. He and his friends saved my mother from death by your explosions and your  _art._ "

The blonde shinobi still lying unconscious on the ground mumbled something incoherent, obviously stirring, but Han couldn't begin to care.

"I don't know why you've bothered to become so talkative today, beast," Kurobachi said, scowling. "There's a rumor going around in the village that you're mute."

"I save my words for when they need to be said," he explained. "And right now, you need to leave me and my family alone."

Kurobachi looked at the man threateningly, glancing between him and the blonde boy, before finally relenting. "Fine. Let the record show that I left because I didn't want to fight a jinchuuriki. The Tsuchikage will be sure to view this as a betrayal, you know. He'll send more of us after you, and we'll just shift the Gobi from one person to the next."

Han did not say anything, as was normal, before the man flew away on the back of his bee, carrying both Deidara and the body of the culprit.

* * *

Naruto reached up to carefully knead at the stress in the shoulders that was probably entirely unnatural for someone with the body of a six year old. It had been hours since Han arrived and the battle ended, but Masa still wasn't awake. They had placed her on a hospital bed in the only thing close to a hospital in the small town, which was an apothecary that dealt with interesting herbs but still had major medicine, chakra and otherwise, to deal with the situation.

"Masa has spent half of the last four hours with Karin's arm in her mouth," Gaara had said with a small smirk, a sign that wasn't usual on his face. The boy must have really liked it here, although the three of them knew they were leaving soon. Whether or not Han joined them was another issue entirely, but he had been working on that.

Karin's powers had done wonders. He'd yet to talk to her about what was bugging her, but it was obvious something was bothering her because she kept looking off in the distance instead of chattering the way that she did. She still talked, but everything was short and sweet, nothing too distinct. The herbalist was trying to give the woman combinations of home medicine to let her breathing return to normal after a nearly perforated lung.

Han hadn't left her side the entire time, knowing that this was a truly awful way to spend your mother's birthday. Naruto supposed it wasn't as bad as not having a mother to spend that day with, but trauma wasn't a contest, so he could sympathize.

"Hey," he finally said, walking into the room again to sit next to him. "Masa would have wanted me to give this to you." He pulled the small, ancient booklet from behind his back, stacked with papers and pages inside. The taller teenager looked at it curiously, unsure of what it was at first.

He took it in his hands and opened it, and Naruto wished he knew what all was inside. The blonde had purposefully avoided looking because it wasn't his business, but from the way he was looking at it, it was obvious he was happy.

"I forgot she had this," he said finally, flipping through several pages. "I... guess I should get started on some of these, to make use of this. Thank you, Naruto."

He smiled. "You're welcome." Before leaving, he turned and realized now was as good a time as any to suggest it. "Can we talk about something for a minute?"

Han looked at him curiously before nodding.

He raised his belly and concentrated, chakra flowing carefully and revealing the black seal etched on his skin. Han gasped, obviously understanding the situation. "I'm the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, and I'm on a mission to unite all of the jinchuuriki." He pointed to the door, where the bandaged Gaara and Karin were waiting. "Gaara is the jinchuuriki of the Ichibi. Basically, I'm suggesting that you should come along with us. We are going to travel the world and save all of us."

Han stared at him curiously. "Why?"

"Aren't you tired of being viewed like a weapon? Like an caged animal being let loose on whatever enemy Iwa can't reign in on its own?" he asked. "I was ignored my whole life by everyone, and probably the closest person to me in my life viewed me as a tool. Gaara can tell you about his experience, but it was worse than mine."

"So what?" Han asked, eyes resting on his mother. "Drop everything and leave with you?"

Naruto frowned. "I know it's sudden and an odd offer that you are at total liberty to refuse, because maybe your experience wasn't the same as ours."

It took a long time for Han to say anything, and Naruto was nearly ready to walk out and just suggest it again later. But finally, the teenager looked up at him sadly. "I accept. It's not like I have much of a choice; I wouldn't be shocked if the Tsuchikage himself decided to fly down here and annihilate me."

Naruto laughed, thinking it was a joke but it obviously wasn't. "You always have a choice, Han. But if you were to stay, the cycle of this perverted, imbalanced system would continue, either through you or through your successor. I want to dismantle that system and force the Nations to rely on their own strength."

Han looked ahead, curious. "But wouldn't that put everyone on an even playing field?"

Naruto nodded immediately. "Exactly! That's exactly what I want to do. Because if everyone was on an even playing field, maybe they'd be less likely to go to war over a petty squabble if they didn't think they could throw their jinchuuriki at it and hope it ends quickly."

Han watched the window for a long time. "Okay," he said. "But I have to ask: are you actually the Yondiame Hokage's son?"

Naruto held a breath inadvertently. How would he react if he owned up to it? Would it change his decision? Finally, he shrugged that away and decided to be honest. "Yes."

"Wow. He made his own son the jinchuuriki?" Han's face was priceless disbelief, and probably a little bit of sadness. Was that because he didn't know his own father, or because of something else?

"You don't even know the half of it."

After an awkward pause, Han sighed, hands gripping the notebook of his designs. "I don't even know why I believe you, to be honest. You're just a little kid, and I'm going to follow you around the world just because of your word."

"Again, you don't have to come, you know. It's one hundred up to you," he said, before thinking to his conversation with Gaara, what felt like so long ago now. "There's a group coming that are going to target the jinchuuriki, to extract the bijuu for a sinister purpose. Don't ask me how I know this, because I don't think I'm ready to tell you. I feel like you'll laugh your ass off and I'll never get through to you."

Han just looked at him quizzically, before frowning. "You'll tell me one day. That's all I need to know now. If coming with you allows me to evade that group, then I will." He looked at Masa, unconscious and breathing too carefully with assistance. "I know I can trust you three, because you saved her."


	9. Crash the System

"She never woke up, did she?" The girl's words had been profound, cutting through him like a knife. There had been something in her eyes that was familiar to her, as they sat around the small fire over breakfast that morning. He leaned over now to see his reflection in the river beside them, seeing the same eyes.

He had shook his head to answer her, but refused to comment further, his heart lurching in his chest. His mother was alive, but barely. They said she would recover, but it was the kind of coma that could last days, or it could last months. It took a lot of convincing for him to finally realize that they couldn't wait it out any longer. Iwa would send shinobi after him; it was only a matter of time.

The Tsuchikage had always told him that his mother was a liability, that she was chaining him to humanity and keeping him from reaching his full potential. Han had refused to accept that, but recent years had told him differently. He'd never forget his fifteenth birthday visit, a little over three years ago now, when he had singlehandedly destroyed a camp of bandits in the same week. He'd never be able to see his mother's face the same way, when he was unable to stop himself from killing a woman at that camp who had reminded him of her.

So it didn't surprise him that the Demolition Corps destroyed his mother's home, his true home. He hadn't lived there in eleven years, but no place in Iwagakure had ever felt comfortable. Now, no place ever would, thanks to the village.

He spat in the water, disturbing the calm flow with his own ripple. The sound was loud enough in the wee hours of the morning that he noticed Naruto's hands itch toward the kunai holster, a curious reaction that only the most seasoned of veterans seemed to share. Han himself kept his hand in his kimono often, a hidden kunai only inches away from his fingers at all times, but that habit had been ingrained on him after several years of active duty.

He again wondered why he was following this verifiable pack of toddlers, on a potentially naive quest to change the world. They had saved his mother from certain death, at least temporarily, and two of them shared his beastly burden. He was potentially getting involved in a cross-continent journey, and he didn't know if they would succeed. Was it too late to put so much stock in these kids?

Karin suddenly screamed, the three of them immediately turning to the right. His heart calmed down almost immediately, a breath of relief calming his nerves. The redheaded girl was running across the water like she was born to do it, shouting "I did it, I did it," as she did. He frowned slightly at the memory of learning that himself, but his had been for less positive reasons.

"Good job, Karin!" Naruto yelled, before turning to Gaara on his left, who was suddenly looking up. "Your turn!"

"No, thank you," he said, as they headed down the slightly steep hill, into yet another valley. It was probably the fifth one they had come across today alone, the mountainous terrain far too difficult. It had been two days since they left his hometown, and they were a little more than halfway to the coast already.

"Ah, come on, you gotta learn it someday," the blonde begged. "I can think of worse places for you to learn that than this shallow river."

Still, the other boy refused to do it, his mind elsewhere. The large dark blue gourd on his back had distracted Han for quite some time, but once he got used to seeing it, it was practically invisible. That was the most eccentric thing, at least in regards to appearance, about their little group. Well, that and the fact that Han was surrounded by little kids he could easily have been babysitting.

"How much more ground can we cover between now and sundown?" asked Naruto, looking at Han specifically. "At our current pace anyway?"

Han knew the terrain well, but he was the wrong jinchuuriki to ask. Roushi knew the place like the back of his hand, having spent years and years in the wilderness. Still, even then, he had a good mental picture of where they were, without having to consult the map in his pack. "Considering we're about another day and half away, if we keep walking steadily along, I'd say we could cover another few dozen miles before sundown. If we run, we'd probably be there by sundown."

Naruto suddenly grinned, before taking off in a full sprint, surprising the other three. "C'mon, the three of you can keep up; it's good training! Karin, keep running on the river for as long as you can!" His voice trailed off as he disappeared over the hill, and Han huffed.

He didn't need endurance training; that was one thing he had that Roushi lacked, oddly enough. But he didn't think that either of the other two could keep up, and this felt very childish to him. That being said, being able to run long distances and jumping through the trees was a good thing. It was probably the best use of the terrain he could imagine.

Karin continued her sprint across the river, but it was shaky and slow and there was no way she'd keep up. Gaara was better, already taking to the trees carefully, and Han leapt up to join him. He wasn't about to let himself fall into Naruto's games, like it was a competition.

"Karin! Don't bother using the river," he shouted. She looked at him curiously, before gesturing up ahead toward the sun-soaked trees.

"Naruto said to use the river!"

He frowned, knowing that Gaara and Naruto were a lot farther now, before he jumped down to join her suddenly. "Then I'll go with you."

She stared at him for a moment but eventually nodded, rushing along the surface of the water as fast her legs could take her. "Thank you. I don't think I could keep up, so at least I'll have company."

Han just accepted her words and kept up with her pace, knowing that the other two wouldn't go much farther ahead than they did, because neither of them actually knew the correct directions other than a general idea. Han was the one with the map and the general location of major landmarks in this country.

Han's eyes flashed toward movement in his peripheral vision, but it was just one of Naruto's clones, speeding through the trees as fast as the original had; the blonde fake nodded in their direction. _Then again, if he has enough of those, maybe he already knows which landmarks to follow. Figures the kid wouldn't need a map._

Seeing him use that many shadow-clones was understandable, given the increased chakra reserves of a jinchuuriki and an Uzumaki. But the way he used them was excellent, and the fact that they could last for more than a few minutes at a time was brilliant.  _I could learn a thing or two from this kid... Whoever he really is._

* * *

"We're probably about thirty miles away from the shore now," Han explained, looking over the map carefully by the light of the fire, their camp obscured by one of Naruto's seals. "There's a city that I'm used to trading with there, and it's where my ship is docked."

Naruto looked at him, curious. "So you're a merchant? That's how you make your money. You sell your inventions."

Han nodded. "I stay out of Iwagakure as much as possible to do it."

 _That's an explanation?_ Naruto gripped his rabbit skewer harder, eating carefully and deliberately. He understood what Han was actually saying though, after more thought, and he had to take a breath to avoid getting angry. No one in Iwagakure would buy his inventions because of his status as a jinchuuriki. But if Iwagakure were threatened by a particularly strong enemy, they would throw the jinchuuriki at their opponent. Naruto frowned at the thought, but was emboldened to move even faster to save the others. He'd started this trip in October, and in nearly seven months, their group had three of the nine.

The future had changed the moment Naruto left the village, because every single event that involved him as a Konoha shinobi would be eradicated. That alone would lead to enough change in and of itself, but it wouldn't change the Akatsuki's plans. He had the Ichibi and the Gobi now, and he wasn't about to let them go. He had secured them with certainty, and it would be enough to delay the Akatsuki indefinitely.

But he wouldn't stop with just Han and Gaara. He would save them all, Obito and Madara be damned.

They finished their meal in a comfortable silence, but Naruto was surprised that Karin was so quiet. She seemed deep in thought, her food forgotten.

"Everything okay? I figured you'd be ecstatic after learning something so important today."

The girl nearly jumped at being addressed, before looking up calmly. "Oh. Yeah, nothing is wrong here!" She laughed unconvincingly, and Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Okay, so no, I'm... not okay."

She pulled a kunai, the steel glinting in the light of the fire, and Naruto had to carefully consider what she was going to do with it. It took him a moment to react to the dried blood that stained it, bringing back memories that he didn't want to return.  _Hinata lying dead on the ground, a Kiri shinobi standing over her, crimson liquid dripping from the point..._

He wanted to wretch, but forced the feeling to go down. He glanced at Gaara, sharing a quick look, and he felt guilty once more for not coming clean about the future to everyone. Gaara was the only person who knew he was a time traveler, and the kid hadn't talked to him very much about it after he accepted the truth. They all deserved to know everything, but he couldn't tell them.

"Whose blood is that?" Gaara asked quietly. Han looked at her intently, but did not comment.

"One of the people that attacked Masa's home," she said, and Naruto made the connection, remembering. "It was the first time I ever tried to kill someone, and I can't stop thinking about the sound of this knife cutting into his l-" She immediately leaned over to throw up, and Naruto was at her side in a moment, taking the blade from her hand.

"Okay, you're going to be fine," he said calmly, carefully forcing her to sit up and helping her wipe her mouth. "This is not easy for anyone to deal with. You have no idea how hard it was for me to force past that, but it will get easier with time." He remembered the feeling of the Kyuubi washing over him the first time, turning him into a puppet of pure instinct, and attacking Haku with the intent to kill on the bridge.

"Killing is easy," Han said, taking the kunai from Naruto's hand to wash it off with water from his canteen. "Getting over it is hard."

"This is more important than any lesson that I've ever given you, that your teachers at the Academy would have ever given you," Naruto said, looking to both her and Gaara with a pained look. "I learn best by doing, and the experience of killing is something you can't ever learn on paper."

He could feel Han's eyes burning on the back of his neck, and he could imagine what he was thinking. _How could this little kid know what that's like?_ But the reserved shinobi did not comment, handing her back her now fresh kunai.

"See, it's just like that," Naruto explained as she took the blade in her hands. "You wash the blood away, you wash the feelings away too. Let them make you into a stronger person, and then cast all the rest aside."

Karin guffawed. "Killing someone makes me a better person?"

"Not better," Naruto said softly. "Stronger."

After that sobering conversation, they decided to get some rest, arranged around the cooling fire. Naruto laid his head on the roots of a large tree, ignoring the feeling of the bark below, but it was obvious he wouldn't sleep. And neither would Han, apparently. The man refused to let anyone else take watch, and was vigilantly watching from the edge of the seal.

The blonde supposed the teenager didn't want to let any of the kids take watch, as though he was unsure of whether or not to trust them with the responsibility. Naruto himself had clones stationed around the campsite for at least five miles, plenty of time for them to get moving if they were found by Iwa shinobi. So far, they hadn't come across any trouble, and he was confident that if someone was on their trail, they would have ambushed them by now, seal be damned.

But even then, Han's consideration for their age was rational. Naruto couldn't help that his situation was seemingly impossible to anyone with a brain to wrap around it; who was supposed to believe that he was a thirty six year old in the body of a child? He had to be thankful that Gaara had accepted the truth, but he couldn't be sure the other boy really understood how complex the situation was.

Gaara and Karin were asleep, a blessing for both of them at this point. He had wondered if the latter would be able to sleep after her run-in with the Iwa shinobi, but she seemed to be lightly snoring. The redheaded jinchuuriki was so much more alert, more normal and even-tempered since the seal was changed, and his insomnia seemed to have almost completely faded away after a little more than two months in Masa's home. He felt proud to know he had made an impact on the boy's life, especially such a positive one that allowed him to have a good night's sleep.

Total sleep deprivation, hearing voices, and a life of trauma had surely turned Gaara into the monster he became. Naruto had knocked out all three of those negative impacts on his life systematically, like striking them off of a to-do list. He knew that the boy wouldn't lost his sanity, unless another unseen factor happened now.

He peeked at Han, curious if there were any side-effects of his particular seal. He had no knowledge if Iwa had ever gone to the lengths that Suna had to create a perfect weapon, modifying the seal to be structurally weak enough to allow influence, while also still holding the Ichibi at bay. The Yondaime Kazekage had surely caused that problem with his own son, but Naruto solved it.

"Han, what do you know about fuuinjutsu?" he asked quietly after standing to join him, sitting on the other end of the tree.

The teenager didn't answer at first, silent enough that Naruto had to see if he was awake. "Nothing more than the absolute basic principles of its theory. I couldn't draw a seal if I tried." He gestured to the one in their campsite. "How does that one work?"

Naruto nodded. "Well, it's difficult to explain, but it seals away the sensory information that could be used to track us from beyond its barriers. Like, a sense of smell or a particular sound, or the sight of the fire. It has to be specific though."

"That's... impressive," he replied after a moment, but didn't say anything more. Naruto could see the gears turning in the other jinchuuriki's head.

He moved to his next question. "What about the seal that holds the Gobi?"

"What about it?"

Naruto raised his shirt, displaying the spiral seal with a flow of chakra. "Do you have a seal that is visible with your chakra?" Visibility was a sign of increased compatibility, because it meant that the person's chakra could interact with the seal directly, rather than being completely closed off or too open.

Han watched him curiously. "No." He glanced up at the sky above the forest canopy. "I was too young to know anything about the seal they used."

He didn't reply immediately, but the question was obviously at the forefront of Han's mind. Naruto didn't have to have any telepathic ninjutsu to know what he was thinking.

"I've studied this stuff for years," he said, admitting the truth but not explaining how many years or to what context. "My sensei was really good at it, and I took after him."

The Gobi jinchuuriki swallowed and continued to watch the trees around them. "You have to be a genius then. Fuuinjutsu is supposed be dangerously difficult to learn."

"No," Naruto said truthfully. "I'm just a really hard worker." Han didn't call him out on his lies, if there were any he noticed, before Naruto smiled.

"Even if you don't know anything about the seal, you can help me figure it out. How much of the beast's chakra can you use?"

Han sighed, a sense of dread forming in his eyes. He seemed sad, distant. "Can we talk about this later?"

"Sure. You can get some sleep, you know?" the teenager shook his head, claiming his spot, and Naruto just grinned. "I'll take watch next time then."

He walked over to where his backpack was located, lying down on the same root and wondering if he knew enough about Han to begin working on the modification seal. This was different from Gaara, because he knew about the seal Gaara had in place before hand. Han had been long dead in his old timeline before he ever met him, so he needed to know the seal's secrets before he could finalize any attempt at replacing it.

After another moment, he pulled inward, entering his mindscape and facing the Kyuubi before him, the great beast that had once been his only friend watching him with absolute contempt. He stood in the ankle-deep water, knowing his chakra was back to full capacity, and it eased his worries every time he felt it.

There were now seven square seals lining the room, one square representing the Ichibi shifting. The seal had changed shapes and was lightly glowing with activity. It was the exact shape as the seal he had placed on Gaara's stomach, mimicking his own seal but with a single magatama in the very center, glowing brighter than the rest. The light was the color of sand, a lightly glowing beacon in the normally dark room.

"At least the bleeding effect is gone for one of the seals," Naruto explained, smirking lightly. "There are still seven more, and within the next few months, I'm sure I can handle Han's as well. There's more chakra involved, so it'll take a little more preparation."

The Kyuubi just bared his teeth.  **"What did you do? Why is it glowing?"**

Naruto smiled. "Because the seals are connected now, a portion of my chakra inside his seal, and some of his inside ours."

The fox's eyes narrowed, tails swinging wildly behind him with every breath.  **"And the reason for that?"**

He glanced back at the seal, knowing he could call on the chakra in the seal if he wished. "Cooperation. All of the jinchuuriki share the same burden, the same story, in varying degrees. When I'm finished, the nine of us will share the same seal, and we will all be able to harness the power of the Bijuu together."

It took a long moment for the Kyuubi to respond, but when it did, the creature breathed hard in exasperation.  **"You humans and your precious fuuinjutsu, hiding behind your tricky drawings like cowards. If you didn't have those seals, no one would be able to manipulate me."**

Naruto just laughed. "Well, I can't disagree with you, at least in part. There are a couple of doujutsu users out there who think differently, but their eyes will never come near you again, I can assure you of that."

It huffed, closing its eyes.  **"Will this plan of yours stop them?"**

Naruto considered it for a moment, wondering if it would be enough. "It's going to take time. The major events, assuming they happen in the same way, won't start to happen for, at most, another six years."

The fox raised its head lightly. **"How do you know you haven't forced everything with your pathetic manipulation to happen faster?"**

"I don't," he said truthfully. "But I'm confident that as long as I have enough time to prepare, and to finish modifying their seals, it wouldn't matter if they came the next day. We'll work together to end this whole mess before it starts."

* * *

They took very little breaks on the rest of the way to the coast, moving quickly enough that they were in the small coastal city by noon. It was a bustling town, the kind of place Karin wished she could see more often; as much as she liked the hard ground, she appreciated a bed even more.

She ran through her part in the plan carefully, only to be used as a contingency if necessary. It probably wouldn't be, but she still felt like it was important to do so. Naruto and Han were confident that they would be fine, especially the latter, because this place was one of his most important shipping towns.

It was apparently important enough to Han that he docked his ship there year round, and she had never seen one up close. When they approached the actual beach, she couldn't have forced the grin from her face if she tried. There were barges and cruisers and fishing boats of all shapes and sizes, and everything was awesome. Gaara didn't seem to like the sight of it, gripping the end of Naruto's sleeve tighter just for clarification that it would be all right.

Karin had to refrain from announcing that it might have been the cutest thing in the world, especially because Gaara was so many months older, but it ended before she could, as Han split off from them to head to the bank to pull out cash, while the rest of them headed to a small cafe nearby.

"Where are we headed next?" asked Gaara finally. The idea of getting to Han's ship had always been the next step, but Naruto had not told them what the next destination was. "I take it we are leaving the country?"

Naruto nodded. "We can't stay here for very long. I can't guarantee our safety long enough to find the Yonbi while we are here, and Han can't send a message to him because the man is on an extended mission outside of the country."

Karin was curious. "So where are we headed next that we need a boat?"

"Han's merchant record can get us into the border of any country, so long as there isn't a trade embargo placed on Tsuchi no Kuni," he explained. "I don't know all the politics involved, but I think that means everywhere but Kaminari no Kuni and Hi no Kuni, although I know relatively easily how to get into my home turf."

"Can't we just do what we did before?" asked Karin, thinking back to Naruto's attack on Tsuchi no Kuni's border.

Naruto shook his head carefully. "It's an option, but if we have to use it again, in the same way, then  _all_  the borders will be stricter and impossible to cross. Word will travel fast. Going the route of the ocean will be much easier to handle, and we don't want to have to fight our way into every country anyway."

It didn't seem as obvious to Karin, but then again, she didn't know much.

She watched the people around her, trying not to use her sensory abilities because of how populated the city was. It would be too much sensory overload. But even so, she slipped into her Kagura Shingan, feeling the mostly minor signatures all around her. Naruto, Gaara, and Han were the largest, by far, and she could feel Han in the bank from even this far away. She tried to only focus on the larger chakras, to isolate them so she could check for potential enemies, and when two of them seemingly walked up to Han, she gasped.

"It might be nothing," she said suddenly, breaking the comfortable silence. "But two shinobi just approached Han." She ignored Gaara and Naruto's looks of concern, pressing a hand to her temples to calm her mind. "They don't seem to be in a fight."

Naruto nodded through his Henge, making him appear to be someone completely different to avoid anyone connecting the dots about them. Karin and Gaara would have tried, but neither of them could perform a Henge and keep it activated for as long as Naruto could. The Kyuubi jinchuuriki adjusted the sunglasses on his face, swinging a hand through his greasy brown hair.

"I'll leave it to him," he said carefully, although he looked very distraught. "Maybe there won't be a fight at all, if we're lucky."

* * *

The bank teller looked at him oddly when he requested for all of his money to be withdrawn from the bank. The group would need it as they travelled from coast to coast, pretending to be merchants to get past borders. Han had somewhat of a reputation as an inventor, but the fact that he was a jinchuuriki was, luckily, not necessarily attached.

In the village, it was difficult to get any sales and he had to rely on mission bounty to survive, despite the fact that he didn't get many missions. He often wondered if he had had a standard genin team, if he would have been a more active shinobi. But instead, the Tsuchikage only sent him on huge missions that required a jinchuuriki's particular expertise, which didn't happen very often. Roushi was a much better candidate usually, even now. He was on a top-secret extended mission that not even Han was allowed to know.

Iwagakure had never been a very pro-jinchuuriki place. In fact, Han despised most of the village for the treatment he had received. Roushi was more adjusted than he was because of how old he was and how many years he had been a jinchuuriki, so Iwa made use of him as the village "weapon." Han was often ignored, treated like he was worthless, and when he was needed on a mission, it was never the kind of grandiose campaign that Roushi sometimes boasted about from his youth. Someone else could have easily handled it.

In a way, Iwa treated him horribly because of the demon sealed inside of him, but also didn't respect him because he was interested in noncombat-oriented activities. It was like they expected him to be a monster on and off the battle-field, and that simply wasn't the case. It wasn't the case with Roushi either, but the older jinchuuriki had learned to go with the flow. Han, however, retreated inward and, perhaps selfishly, only stuck with the closest people around him. Only recently had he stopped visiting with his mother as often, finally pushing away from her as a result of the village's hypocritical expectations.

"Will that be all?" the bank teller suddenly asked, shocking him from his inner monologue. In her hand was an envelope packed to the brim with bills.

"Yes." He turned away from her as he grabbed it, almost immediately meeting two Iwa shinobi who he didn't recognize. He pushed past them, trying not to make a scene, but one of the grabbed his shoulder, chakra pulsing through his fingers.

"Hey, we need to talk to you," the shinobi said, but Han whipped his arm around and shoved him off. "Han, what are you doing?"

He didn't say anything and backed out of the bank, having probably terrified the civilians within the bank that there would be a confrontation in the middle of the building. Han managed to take it outside, at least, his calculating eyes never leaving the two shinobi.

 _They found us,_ he realized, cursing inwardly. These could just be the Iwa shinobi stationed in the city, but they obviously sought him out somehow. He wished he had a way to figure out how strong they were; based on the uniform, they had to be at least chunin, but it could all be a ploy. If these two were sent by the Tsuchikage, then they had to be ANBU at least, because they wouldn't send anyone less than that to deal with him. His track record spoke for itself.

"We just want to talk to you," the other shinobi said, but his posture was all wrong, prepared for a fight.

"I don't want to talk to you, thanks," he said automatically, still moving carefully and slowly, without looking away from them. They followed, as expected, but they were moving slightly faster than he was, attempting to close the distance. When he was sure he made his move, he charged the chakra near his elbow and threw up his arm.

A charged ball of iron shot from the launcher hidden under his sleeve, powered by his chakra that made it gleam with bronze light. One shinobi jumped in front of the other, holding out his palm that looked suspiciously like steel to block it, deflecting it easily.  _A kind of hardened skin technique?_

"We don't want any trouble," the defending shinobi said, dropping his hand that slowly reverted back to the normal color of skin. "The Tsuchikage just wanted to bring you in."

Han merely nodded, not in agreement, but in exasperation. He launched himself toward them, power flowing into his shoulder, and slamming into the shinobi with the incredible metallic skin, throwing him halfway across the street and into a fruit stand.

The other shinobi backed away from the famous charge, firing a fireball from his mouth that Han ducked under, before racing forward and slamming his fist hard into the enemy's gut. A trash can suddenly appeared and was obliterated by his fist, before the same shinobi came up behind him and tried to stab him in the back.

He pivoted and delivered a kick that the shinobi only barely dodged, bringing the kunai down on his leg but instead glinting against the bracers hidden under his clothing. Han reached back with both hands and grabbed the shinobi's shoulders, bringing him forward as hard as he could against his outstretched knee. The joint slammed against the shinobi's throat, forcing him to crumple to the cobblestones.

"I thought you just wanted to talk," he said, spinning around with a kunai to stop the shinobi from barreling a metal fist into his face. "I doubt the Tsuchikage even sent you here, or you wouldn't have tried to kill me so openly, in broad daylight." There were several shocked civilians all around them, most running and some watching, captivated by the fight.

The shinobi tried to press harder against Han's kunai, but he wouldn't budge, his muscles stubbornly halting with the chakra swirling through his feet, gluing him to the ground below. He whipped his leg around, his whole body suddenly launched up as though on his haunches, and then slammed hard into the shinobi's chest.

The second the man landed from the powerful hit, Han was on top of him, legs and back pinning his arms and chest to the ground, a kunai pointed directly to his eye. "Tell me."

The shinobi coughed hard, trying to struggle, but Han just increased the chakra flow to his muscles, pinning the enemy in between his legs and the ground, all of his weight pressing down as hard as he could. "I can't breathe!"

"Good," Han spat.

He struggled more, but Han knew he wouldn't be able to get up until Han let him up, with or without a kunai through the eye socket. "We didn't have any orders," the man finally struggled out in between strained breaths. "The two of us hated you! Because of your kind, my sister died before her son could be born!"

Han peered at him. "What do I have to do with that?"

"It was the Nibi jinchuuriki! That Kumo bitch killed my sister in cold blood, like the demon she is! Like the demon you are!" There were several audible gasps from the growing audience, and it was all Han could do not to kill them all just to shut them up.

"So you blame me," he said carefully, "for something that I didn't do, nor did I have any control over." Han suddenly stood up, grabbing the man underneath his arms and holding him up for a few seconds, before throwing him as hard as he could. The Iwa shinobi landed almost twenty yards away, sliding to a halt in front of a line of civilians.

Han realized very carefully that this was the push that he needed. He was done with Iwagakure and all of its people. The shinobi didn't respect him, Ohnoki didn't use him, and he is blamed for situations that he never even did. The demonic chakra had twisted his life into one of isolation. But now, it would bring him salvation.

He hurried toward Naruto and the others, knowing he needed to get the ship moving as quickly as possible. It wouldn't take an incredibly long amount of time for the ANBU to respond, so they had a window of opportunity.

* * *

The second Gaara stepped foot onto the ship, he realized he didn't like it at all. Karin gave him a look of encouragement while she admired the ship's shape.

"I've never seen one of these before. Have you, Gaara?"

He shook his head, wishing he could find somewhere on land to hide. The dock was right there, but Han was already working on untying it carefully.

It was a smaller ship than some of the others docked nearby, its sails nowhere near as large. It was somewhat blocky and made of fine wood, and based on the designs around him, Gaara wondered if it would even go. He wanted to explore the cabin and the cargo hold below, but part of him knew that would be no better than standing on the deck. His seasickness was obvious to everyone on board.

Naruto clapped a hand on his back. "You know, it helps to imagine that you aren't moving with the waves."

"I doubt that somehow," he said automatically, feeling his stomach lurch the moment the large ship was unlatched from the dock, shifting slightly with the water but held down by the anchor.

Within a few short minutes, Gaara felt like he was trapped in hell. Han started guiding the ship away from the dock, using some kind of machine to pull the anchor out of the water. Naruto and Karin were making conversation with him, asking him about the ship, but Gaara was barely paying any bit of attention. The normally quiet man answered their questions with one or two words.

Gaara held onto the railing beside him carefully, just as Karin suddenly shot up, looking around her. "There are two signatures pursuing us!" He shared a look with Naruto.

"Han, how fast can you make this thing go?" the blonde asked.

The large teenager reached down on the control panel, activating a switch. Immediately, the sails closed mechanically, and the ship lurched from shore at a much faster speed, dipping into the open water. Gaara lost his lunch, retching over the side railing and feeling even more seasick.

"What did you do?" asked Karin. "How is this thing moving without any sails?"

"Steam."

"You built a steam engine?" Naruto said quizzically. "That's brilliant!"

Within a few minutes, the steam-powered ship had left the land and the two ANBU who were following them behind, angling east. Gaara was miserable, although he would have been more miserable if the Iwa shinobi had caught up to them. He needed to go lie down.

* * *

Naruto was amazed when he finally managed to get to the cargo hold, a small room that ran the length of the ship below them. Crate upon crate filled the room with specialized kunai and other designs that Han had created himself, prepared to deliver them to the highest bidder. To the back of the room was the boiler room, that gathered water from below, filtered out the salt, and then boiled it into steam to power the engine. They had long since abandoned the steam, using the sails to move forward at a reasonable pace.

"So this is your entire inventory?" he asked. Han nodded, leaning against the door that lead to the cabin, where Gaara was currently lying and trying not to die. "It's amazing how much there is down here."

Han half-smiled at him. "Yeah."

"Do you think we've lost them?" he asked.

Han shrugged. "I don't know. Iwa and the Daimyo don't have a great navy, so they might not be able to track us."

Naruto nodded, knowing that was great news. Everything about this was better than he'd hoped it could be, because the open ocean didn't have the boundaries and potential pursuers that moving across land did. They could go wherever they wanted, within reason, and the ship was stocked with supplies to last for weeks at a time.

"I want to thank you for this," he finally said after a time. "For this ship and agreeing to help us."

Han merely nodded. "You're welcome. I had my doubts, but they reminded me of all the reasons you wanted to do this. We don't deserve to be blamed for all the world's ills."

Naruto knew he was referring to the shinobi who had attacked him earlier. "Yeah, well, they can't reach us here. Not easily anyway. So let's crash the system together, shall we? Starting with Takigakure."


	10. Revenge of the Fallen

The past three weeks on the open water were a fascinating experience. The water continually lapped against the unique ship, reminding him of all the times he had traveled by sea in his old life. Sadly, most of those had not been on good circumstances, and Kiri would never be the same after he was through with it. The wrath of the Bijuu had been felt that day.

He sighed, ignoring his memories and focusing on his new life and the complex sealing array in front of him, a small lamp hanging over it. The ship lurched carefully, making the quill miss and completely screw up the ink design.

Gaara stared calmly at him as he angrily crumpled the paper and hurled it across the room, hoping to start over. "Are you sure it's even a good idea to try to work on Han's seal without asking him first? What if he doesn't want to fix it?"

Naruto didn't meet his gaze, staring at the new sheet of paper on the small desk in front of him. He had all his old notes from Gaara's modified seal formula, and unfortunately, it wasn't as easy as he had thought it would be. The vast difference in the levels of chakra between the Ichibi and the Gobi made this much more difficult, and Han's seal was of a different kind that Gaara's. He'd been working for the last week on it, but he couldn't make any headway.

The blond didn't expect Gaara to understand how vital the seals would be, but he would tell them all when he was ready to. Naruto couldn't be entirely sure that the desired outcome would even happen, but in theory, it worked on paper. Sadly, he couldn't just transfer what he knew on paper into practical use as easily as he wished.

"No, I won't ask him until it's finished," he explained. "Besides, he knows I'm working on something for him. He just doesn't know what."

He'd demonstrated a little bit of his sealing knowledge by transferring almost every bit of the cargo into a seal that was nearly too large to carry. If he'd had a bit more time, he could have simplified all of that into one small enough to fit into a pocket, but he had too much to do.

"I think Han is suspicious of you," Gaara said suddenly, and Naruto shot a look. "About where you come from. Karin doesn't know either, and I doubt she'd be happy about you lying to her for months."

Naruto frowned, but it was true. "I just... don't know if they can handle the truth. I'm worried Karin will gab about it to someone in a town somewhere, and I'll end up strapped to a table and experimented on, wishing for death. And I need Han to stay; what if he leaves and goes back to Iwa, and the Akatsuki gets him?"

Gaara didn't know the specifics of the mercenary group, but knew their overall mission was not unlike his own. Still, he frowned. "Can you keep pretending to be a genius?"

Naruto sighed, knowing it was difficult. He knew techniques that should be impossible, and could probably defeat Han if it really came down to it. He'd beaten jonin before in this body, although they were from a minor village. The battle against Kurobachi probably would have ended with him the victor if he had allowed it to go the full course, but the man was a jonin from Iwagakure; he wouldn't have been surprised if the man got a lucky shot in. He was six and a half years old to everyone but Gaara, and he had to pretend he was a self-taught genius who could use seals that probably no one else in the world could ever think about using.

When Gaara disappeared to go upstairs, rubbing his somewhat queasy stomach as he did, Naruto was just glad the boy had figured out how to beat his seasickness. He followed the boy up to the top of the ship's deck.

"Keep practicing your water walking, Gaara."

The redhead groaned as he jumped overboard, landing with a light splash on the waves and nearly slamming again into the ship. Naruto was proud when he recovered and was able to stand strong for several minutes, before finally got over it and created a platform of sand to guide himself up to the top. The muk from the sand armor around his ankles stained the deck, and Naruto clapped. "You're doing much better."

The boy just rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I'll keep working on it." Even then, new sand gathered around his feet, attempting to remove the wet sand and fix his armor once more. It had taken forever for him to finally even try it, and fishing the boy out of the ocean had not been a fun experience.

Naruto was just glad the boy's chakra control had returned. Over the months, he was able to actively control his sand again with about the same amount of power. His reaction time was what needed improvement next, because the sand didn't leap up to protect him on its own accord anymore. Those few seconds could be the key to his survival. Naruto was sure he would get it all back to the way things were, especially when he learned to actively control the Ichibi's power.

Naruto had not introduced his method to Gaara on how to pull on the Bijuu, because the boy simply wasn't ready. Unlike his own seal, Naruto had not had to follow Minato's method of locking away access to the seal, so the boy potentially had access to the full power of the Ichibi. Naruto would still need to find Gerotora, the scroll toad, one day, but he pushed that thought aside for another time.

He knew the way to Myoubokuzan after all, but it would take way too long to get there. He stared at his thumb, wondering if it would be possible to just reverse summon himself there. But if he did that, he'd leave the others behind. A summoning contract with them was possible, but risky. Could he trust the toads to not tell Jiraiya and Konoha all about his plans?

That thought led to another issue he supposed he needed to figure into his plans: relearning senjutsu. His mind remembered how to draw on nature energy, but his body didn't; he was not ready to turn into a frog or a statue anytime soon. Senjutsu was integral, a skill that he would need to face the larger threats in this shinobi world. But he had not figured out how he was going to access it. Could he even accomplish it without a toad contract if he didn't use one?

His thoughts were interrupted when Karin suddenly ran over, excited. "Look at this! Look at this!" She held out her hands, looking almost giddy. Extending from her right wrist was a thin chain almost three-links long, glowing slightly with her chakra.

"That's awesome! Tell me how you did it!"

The Uzumaki chakra chain technique was much harder to learn that Naruto had ever anticipated, especially because Karin only knew the basic theory that her aunt had introduced to her. Keiko had been skilled with it, skilled enough that she could produce an intricate necklace that Karin had been wearing for years. Karin had difficulty explaining how she called on the chakra to do it, and how she molded it with shape transformation. Naruto himself had yet to produce a chain correctly, and it reminded him so much of his training to learn Rasengan.

He supposed he could learn it by using his shadow-clones, a much faster way of training than he thought. But it felt less important to learn it so far removed from Karin. The girl was an Uzumaki, and she was trying to help him learn and Uzumaki technique that he himself wanted to know. It seemed like something he should learn the old-fashioned way, like Kushina had undoubtedly learned it before him. Unfortunately, that meant it might take weeks or even months to produce a single link, much less go as far as Karin had gone.

He continued working on it with her, listening to her try to explain how she created the small chain from her chakra. His mind wandered, however, realizing that he was so incredibly content. The fact that he was on a boat brought back memories he wished he could erase from his mind, but here and now, he was actually happy and felt like a bright future was in store.

* * *

Fuu pulled herself up and down, muscles straining as she completed her third repetition of fifty consecutive pull-ups. The metallic bar on the wall was the only thing worthy of note in the windowless room, a glorified mattress she called a bed the only comfort she was allowed.

She dropped to the ground carefully, running her hands along her sweaty arms. A plastic canteen of water was refreshment, but she wasn't incredibly thirsty. She wondered if it was possible to turn that canteen into a weapon strong enough to kill the guard and escape, but she wouldn't get far. She needed to keep that edge, however, for the upcoming Trials.

She pushed up her white sleeve, displaying the tattoo of kanji that kept her in her prison for a room, preventing her escape. Just above her left breast, nearly nonexistent at only ten years old, was the seal that made her body a prison for Chomei.

Fuu wanted to keep a positive attitude, but it was incredibly difficult. She'd lived in this room for as long as she could remember, becoming a jinchuuriki only five years ago. Nothing ever changed for her in this horrible village, although she was sure that it would be different very soon.

The door opened quickly, the hinges creaking as they did, and Fuu didn't even flinch. She looked up to see the brunette man she knew so well walk into the room, his hair jutted out at all angles under his tan bandanna. He wore his hitai-ate around his neck, the proud symbol of Takigakure displayed front and center.

"When are you going to take that symbol off?" she asked curiously. "It's not like you hold this village any respect."

"Last I checked, neither did you," the man said with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah, you're right," she said. "Hm. Did you need something specifically, Suien?"

The jonin smiled. "I always need something, but I guess right now, I need you to be ready very soon. I've got allies who are ready to move."

Fuu looked at him curiously. She had never known whether or not to trust the man who had essentially been her handler her whole life, or whether or not he had any allies. "Really? I thought we were waiting unti-"

He cut her off with a look. "I'm tired of waiting to get what I want, and the pressure is on. This village won't even know what hit it."

* * *

Han jabbed Naruto in the shoulder as hard as he could, before whirling around and delivering a kick flip to the face of another Naruto. Both of them burst on contact, the smoke filling his vision. A hand found its way into his guard, but he parried it away with a palm strike, throwing the clone off balance and into the drink below them.

Han was sparring against Naruto on the ocean, demonstrating the kind of chakra control that should have taken a long time to master. Gaara and Karin watched from the ship's deck, amazed at what they might one day be able to do.

There were at least a dozen more clones around him, and it was indiscernible to understand where the real one was among them. He supposed it didn't matter, as another clone tried to rush him from his blind spot, a shadow alerting him on the water. Han twisted his torso, the momentum of the fist slamming into the side of the boy's stomach dispelling the clone immediately.

Throughout their boat trip, Han had been trying to give them lessons on taijutsu, which was easily his best skill. Naruto claimed he was good, but Han had yet to see it. His form was imprecise and he didn't have the strength behind his moves to catch up.

"You know, I'd probably have dragged you under the ocean with ninjutsu by now," one of the shadow-clones declared when he rushed one of them, kneeing them in perfect form and hitting the next in a fluid, powerful moment.

"I can't help how young I am!" yelled another, causing the rest of the clones to glare at the clone that said it.

He merely grunted, uncertain. The boy might have known the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and a few other tricks, and gave off the aura that he was more skilled than he probably should be. Han wondered if the Kyuubi jinchuuriki was getting help from the fox with his training, or perhaps the fox itself had more unique powers that neither he nor Roushi would know about. It didn't seem out of the realm of possibility that Naruto could be skilled merely because of the fox's collective memories forcing his training to go faster. His body didn't have the strength to keep up with the interesting, if typically flawed, taijutsu he displayed, but he didn't act like it.

Han knew a few ninjutsu himself to cover his tracks, but it was not his forte. He'd always been what Roushi called a "tricky brawler." Tricky because he used ninjutsu very infrequently, enough to make the opponent think he wasn't capable of it, and because of his interesting combat inventions. Han wasn't allowed to use either of those in his fight with Naruto, but that didn't matter. His taijutsu was far superior to the boy's.

Three of them jumped off of a wave at once, all approaching him from different angles, but Han grinned.  _With those clones he can do some interesting moves..._

In one motion, Han angled his shoulder and head forward, bursting off of the waves and into the torso of a clone, bowling the shorter shinobi-in-training over headfirst. His thick hat took most of the damage, but when the other two suddenly kicked him hard enough to throw him off balance, he didn't hesitate.

Dropping into the ocean, he held his breath and narrowly avoided a fish that didn't understand to get away from the fighters. His moment was coming, as the clones couldn't see him clearly, and with a single chakra-powered move, he lunged upward and grabbed two clone's feet in each hand either hand. In the next fluid motion, he pulled his arms to cross them in front of his chest, slamming the two flailing clones into each other with a huge puff of smoke.

He stared triumphantly when the other clones finally dispelled, revealing the real Naruto. "Anyone else want a piece of me?" He declared carefully, and neither Gaara nor Karin seemed interested.

Han just chuckled. "You know you lost, right?"

The blonde frowned. "I didn't lose! I tactically withdrew!" He pointed at Han and then gestured to the others on the top of the ship. "Karin, Gaara, take this as a lesson: learning when and where to fight is incredibly important!"

Karin just guffawed. "Oh come on. You ran away from a spar! You barely hit him a few times!"

The other boy looked outraged and shouted back at her to argue, but Han just smirked. Naruto didn't seem to be the type to give up in a fight, but this was just a sparring match. It was different than the moment when a life is on the line, and the fact that Naruto understood that difference spoke volumes to Han.

* * *

Gaara had never been happier to be on shore, glad that they had finally arrived. They docked the ship on a coastal town, not very different from the one that they had left a few weeks ago. The shipyard, however, was buzzing with activity, and it was easier than he thought it would be to verify that they could dock.

The fact that he was actually touching land made him feel like he was going to throw up more, which made no sense. The queasy feeling eventually passed, but he was jealous of practically everyone else that they were fine at sea.

"Everyone remember the plan?" asked Naruto curiously, getting a nod from the other three. Han seemed amused by Naruto, and Gaara knew his suspicious mind was taking stock of the boy and how he so easily took charge without sounding like a bossy brat.

When it was finally their turn, a shinobi from Takigakure came to investigate them, immediately looking to the large teenager who easily dwarfed the shinobi in front of him. "State your name and business, please."

Han gestured to three children. "My name is Tsubasa, and these three are family." Gaara remembered Naruto's whole cover story in Sunagakure, with a clone pretending to be his older sister and the uncle Tsubasa he fooled shinobi with. "We have urgent business in Takigakure no Sato."

"We have to deliver this letter to Shimusa-sama!" Karin practically shouted, holding up an envelope that the shinobi looked at dubiously.

Han took it from her, admonishing her with a look. "It's a long story. I sell interesting inventions and shinobi weap-"

"Hello there!" someone shouted, rushing over. Gaara saw Naruto's fists tighten at the sight of the short, bespectacled man before him, wearing an expensive business suit. "Han-san, it's good to see you!"

"That's Han Tsubasa to you," the man quickly countered, preventing the man from blowing their cover. Gaara met Karin's eye with worry.

"Do you know these people, Gatou-san?" asked the shinobi, staring at the paper on his clipboard.

The man named Gatou shrugged them off, putting an unwelcome hand on Han's arm. "I don't know the three kids, but I know Han here very well."

"Really? I told you all about my sister's kids the last time we talked," Han declared, probably talking more casually than Gaara had ever seen him. The tall jinchuuriki was usually much less animated than this, and had much fewer words. Was this all part of the scheme to get inside, or was he that familiar with this greasy businessman?

Gatou frowned. "Oh well, I guess I don't recall." He turned to the shinobi. "That will be all. These four are with me. I'll show them into the village."

"But you can't do tha-"

"Yeah, yeah, shinobi-san, I know. My hired Taki shinobi will follow all the precautions to keep the village's location secret to all outsiders," he said carefully. "After all, I've been doing business with your village off and on over the years, and I still have no idea where it is hidden."

"Of course, Gatou-san." The shinobi eventually accepted the words, disappearing to check the next ship.

Gaara still wondered why Naruto seemed visibly angry, like he was biting his tongue. Karin kept peering at him, and he wondered if the blond's chakra was acting up in his anger.

"Thanks for the help," Han said carefully to Gatou.

The businessman smiled in reply. "Of course. Although Han, I have to say, I don't really understand why you came in person. Usually I just get a box of your goodies from time to time."

"I'm expanding my clientele into other countries personally," Han explained, placing the letter into his pocket to keep it from Gatou's eyes. Naruto's future knowledge might not even be necessary if this man had as much financial clout as he probably thought he did. "I never expected to meet you here."

The man didn't even acknowledge the three children as he and Han caught up, and Naruto was deadly silent, his jaw set. Had he ever seen Naruto this angry before? With Yashamaru, perhaps, but that was in the midst of a fight. This was a seemingly harmless man... had Naruto known him in the future? Or was something else about the man making him angry?

Either way, Gaara decided very quickly that he didn't like Gatou if the man was provoking that kind of reaction in Naruto.

* * *

Naruto eventually calmed down, but in those few irrational moments, all the anger he had felt against the drug smuggler returned. Nami no Kuni was practically on the other side of the continent, but the idea that Gatou had this much reach was impressive and annoying. Han must have used Gatou's shipping company in order to ship his goods around the Elemental Nations, but Naruto wondered to what extent that actually meant.

Did he just work with Gatou, or was he more involved in the criminal aspect of the man's business? Naruto doubted it based on his impressions of Han, but did he really know the man? What if he was one of Gatou's drug clients too?

At this point, Naruto tried to remind himself that Gatou was a relatively minor concern in the grand scheme of things. Gatou's influence on Nami no Kuni was practically at the bottom of his list of problems. He remembered Inari and Tsunami and Tazuna, and was inwardly nostalgic. His first C-rank mission to the Land of Waves was a turning point in his old life, and in retrospect, was his first glimpse at what it meant to be a jinchuuriki. Haku was right; shinobi were just tools, and Naruto hated being used.

"What's wrong?" Karin asked, looking at Naruto with concern. They were on the outskirts of the coastal town, prepared to be led blindfolded in the direction of Takigakure. Gatou was taking forever to meet with them.

"I don't like Gatou," Naruto said after a moment to consider his words, locking eyes with Han. "He might have done work with you before, but I have a bad feeling about him." He gestured to his stomach. "The big guy can read negative emotions to a certain extent, and if I tap into his chakra, I can too. This guy has all kinds of malicious intent." That was a lie, in a way, because he couldn't read emotions yet without harnessing all of the Kyuubi's chakra.

Han didn't necessarily seem offended by his observations, but it was difficult to understand the older jinchuuriki's face. "I owe a lot to his company."

"Does he know about the Gobi?" asked Karin.

Han adjusted the scroll containing his invention inventory on his back, hoping to make some money while he was there and to keep up their charade. "No. He shouldn't."

Naruto was not convinced; it would be just like Gatou to try to gain a powerful shinobi for a body guard, and a jinchuuriki would be perfect for that. Zabuza was very skilled, but having a chakra demon on his side? He'd go for that in a heartbeat. Perhaps his business in Takigakure relied on the Nanabi.

Finally, the man appeared, walking up the hill to join them with his two bodyguards trailing behind. They were the same two bodyguards he had known in the past, but there was a third this time wearing a headband from Takigakure. Gatou had mentioned hiring a Taki shinobi, which was an interesting way to get into a village as secretive as that one.

Naruto hated admitting this, but he would owe Gatou for helping them get into Takigakure. He would pay the man back with a kunai to the throat, and avoid that whole mess before it started. Thinking about the domino effect on that was interesting: would Sasuke gain his Sharingan at around the same time if the mission to Nami no Kuni never occurred? Naruto had to hope he wouldn't, but if fate planned for it, the third incarnation of Indra would find a way.

* * *

"How long until we know what they'll do with the letter?" asked Karin, looking around the strange place.

The village itself was shaped almost like a crescent moon, buildings made of pleasant blues and greens and whites. Small canals were built in-between sections of the village, all leading toward the giant lake that the village encapsulated. But the most impressive part of the situation was the giant tree, its canopy covering nearly half of the huge city alone. Its roots extended into the lake itself, which had an odd green tint to it.

It was not as large as some of the other hidden villages that Naruto remembered, but it hadn't had its hay-day since the Shodaime Hokage was still around. He supposed that was because the Five Great Nations militarized so quickly that Taki was unable to keep up, but he'd have to read more about it.

Naruto shrugged at Karin's question, as they sat on the bench overlooking one of the canals, waiting for Gatou to set up their accommodations in one of the best inns in the city. "I doubt it will take long. It's a matter of the village's safety, so if their leader is worth a damn, he'll do something about it quickly."

Naruto had decided to send the letter anyway, containing details of a plot by Suien to steal the Hero Water. He had originally hoped to use it to essentially blackmail their way into the city by coming off as "heroes," while Han could set up his business there and they could find Fuu. He figured Shibuki's father would owe them somehow, even after the plan shifted. But Gatou had been an unknown factor, and it had been stupidly easy to get inside with his pull.

 _Are they all blind, or is this before Gatou becomes a shady bastard?_ Naruto considered, curious as to how to can handle it. He didn't want a repeat of what happened at Masa's home, and it might have worked out in the end, but not without consequences. Was association with Gatou enough to keep Taki out of their business?

Either way, he sent the letter regardless, hoping to gain some favor with Shimusa after all.

"Can you sense the jinchuuriki?" whispered Gaara to Karin, who shook her head.

"No. I'd have to move through the village because my range isn't big enough," Karin explained, staring at the canopy of the giant tree stretched overhead.

Naruto wondered how he could help her expand her range, because it was so out of his comfort zone. Sensory ninjutsu weren't really necessary when he could just use Sage Mode, although he didn't have access to that. None of the scrolls he procured from Konoha had that knowledge, although that might not matter given Uzushio's hidden library. He'd already found it once, and he supposed it wouldn't be difficult to find it again. The Kagura Shingan would have to be included in that.

Han sat down, studying his hands, obviously deep in thought. Naruto raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong?"

He waved it off and Naruto didn't press him; Han was a private person, and if it was important, he would share it.

Gatou walked out of the inn overlooking the lake, the nice building several stories higher than some of the buildings around it. "Hello, Han. Good news: I've set you up with a room for the next week, paid for and everything. This will allow you to set up clients, but if you need to stay any longer, you'll have to pay."

Karin bowed gracefully. "Thank you for your generosity, Gatou-san!" Naruto fought the urge to shoot her a glare; she didn't understand, so he couldn't fault her for it.

The shipping magnate shook his head. "No, of course. It's the least I can do. My own room will be close to yours, but I doubt I'll be staying in Takigakure for long." Naruto raised an eyebrow at that, but he supposed it made sense. Gatou's company was based in Nami no Kuni in the future, so it wouldn't be unreasonable that he was there now, or perhaps somewhere else.

"Where do you normally do business?" Gaara asked, catching Naruto's eye. Had the boy caught onto his thoughts that this man wasn't to be trusted?

"All around the world," he said simply. "I'm trying to make a name for myself and my company, and there are certain people and resources that are here that I can't get anywhere else. I'm making connections, you see, not unlike what Han here is doing."

The hat-wearing jinchuuriki nodded in agreement.

"Well, now that that is in order, I'm afraid I need to go handle some business," Gatou explained with a grin, and they wished him well as he turned back to the village with his bodyguard in tow.

Naruto was already prepared, and he needed to know what Gatou was all about. Signaling the clone hidden under a Henge with a two-fingered wave, he had to hope it would lead to something important. Learning everything he could about that slimy man was incredibly useful.

* * *

"Who did you say this letter was from?"

Shibuki stared up at his father, afraid of being directly addressed by the man. He ran a hand through his longer hair, staring blankly at the piece of paper the man was holding behind his desk. There was a certain worry in his voice, a kind of tentative anger or concern that he couldn't read.

"The shinobi who brought it to me- I'm sorry I don't remember his name- said that it was from a merchant who has worked with the Gatou Company in the past," Shibuki explained. He hated keeping track of details, but his father was trying to gear him toward administrative tasks so that when he took over, he would be ready. "What did the letter say?"

Shimusa gripped it harder. "We have a traitor in our midst. This merchant's nephew heard a rumor while they were traveling through Amegakure about a plot, orchestrated by Suien, to steal the Hero Water."

Immediately, Shibuki gasped. "Not Suien-sensei!"

His father frowned sympathetically. "Calm down, boy, and think. Don't let your personal feelings get in the way."

Thinking through his Academy teachings, he calmed down and tried to read between the lines. "How do we trust the letter's authenticity? I mean, kids make up stories all the tim-"

"But the Hero Water is one of our village's most prized secrets," Shimusa explained. "This letter has to be legitimate, because only jonin of his caliber would know about it. The only question is whether or not they heard the rumor as they say, or if they are part of the plot itself." With a word, three ANBU suddenly appeared, fading from the genjutsu that had hidden them from sight. "Collect all the parties involved. I want a full investigation."

When the ANBU vanished as quickly as they appeared, Shibuki sighed. "What can I do, Tousan?"

The man shook his head. "Nothing for now. Go back to your studies. Thank you for delivering it to me."

Shibuki nodded and left the room, wishing he could be half as amazing as the ANBU were. Maybe one day, he'd grow out of his shell and stop being the coward his father thought he was. He had a few years to do just that.

* * *

Karin hated waiting, especially waiting for something like this. Despite the fact that she could see beyond the room with her mind, she felt claustrophobic in the small interrogation room. She was growing more and more anxious, but she had to remind herself that it was the plan. Naruto had helped her in their discussions about how to avoid spilling secrets over the past few months, and it was all in believing in the plans themselves and using subtle manipulations of chakra to mask the signs of lying.

The four of them had been gathered and split in a small compound that she supposed was where they kept prisoners of war and other dangerous entities. Their group wasn't dangerous though, and this seemed like overreach to deal with elements like them. Shouldn't they have taken in Suien to interrogate him, and not someone else?

The small, empty room was playing to her insecurities, forcing her to feel nervous, uncertain, and jittery. Han and Gaara were so calm that she was sure the two of them would be fine, but Naruto was an enigma. She wasn't sure how he would react.

When the door finally opened, a pretty woman with dark brown hair entered the room, her green eyes glinting in the florescent light. Her uniform fit her snugly, and based on what she knew, she suspected that the woman was a chunin. Karin let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding in, checking the others with her Kagura Shingan to realize they were still waiting. So she was going first.

"Good afternoon! My name is Midori. How are you-" she looked down at her clipboard, "Karin-chan?"

"I'm fine," she replied. "I really like your hair. It's pretty."

"I like yours too," the woman said genuinely, sitting across from her and jotting a quick note on her files. "So I want to get started as soon as possible. I'm a very busy woman."

Karin smiled, trying to calm her heartbeat. "I'm sure you want to save time to investigate your jonin, so I understand."

Midori looked at her pointedly and nodded. "Yes. I want to ask you about that. How do you recall the events that your group described in the letter to Shimusa-sama?"

The second the question left the woman's lips, Karin was inwardly relieved.  _They aren't using the mind-reading stuff that Naruto mentioned... Just questions. Maybe they are saving that for the jonin?_ Either way, Karin was glad as she began to explain.

* * *

Midori was an interesting woman, Gaara realized. Her eyes were so attentive that she was able to scribble notes as they talked without actually looking at the page, and he wished that he could read what she was writing.

He relayed the story that Naruto had crafted, able to recall it in relatively simple voice that spoke volumes. He started to feel nervous about halfway through, as he was sure he was forgetting certain details.

"I'm... sorry. I can't remember how Naruto described him," he said in explanation, hoping she would believe him. He remembered Naruto's advice that people don't talk about every detail of every event; the story would look _too_  polished if he remembered exactly how Naruto described it, because it would look like a prepared statement.

"That's okay. I'll get the fill-in from him," she explained. "Did Suien mention anything else to the Amegakure shinobi?"

Gaara shook his head. "I don't think so."

* * *

Han hadn't agreed with this plan of Naruto's for a lot of reasons, that relied on knowledge he couldn't possibly know, but wouldn't tell them how he knew it. It was possible he really did hear it in Amegakure, and that this Suien had real allies in Ame. But the way he discussed it pointed that it was a lie, a way to get into the village and on their good side. Gatou had gotten them in the door, but would they have even needed this?

He thought back to his mother and realized why it was necessary. In order to prove they were good guys, they would prevent someone from coming after them and hurting someone else's mother in the process. The boy was brilliant, he had to admit.

Midori focused her emerald eyes on his face again, almost peering at him. "How long have you been a merchant?"

"Four years," he said truthfully. Near his fourteenth birthday, in fact, he'd sold his first product to someone in Iwa. Despite the fact that it was defective and nearly blew up their house, he still considered that his first sale. It had tarnished his name in the village forever, so he had to go out of his way to sell some of his more interesting wares.

"Do you do business in Ame often?"

"Sometimes," he said, "but not often."

"What do you sell?"

Han lifted his shirt, revealing the launcher under his sleeve. She visibly tensed, but he raised up his hand. "Sorry. It's a launcher powered by my chakra. No ammo." He reached with his other hand and proved it to her, and didn't lower his hands until she nodded with understanding several moments later. "I invent things, some combat-oriented and some not." He wanted to go into detail about his most proud invention, the steam engine powering his ship, but decided not to bore her.

"And how do you know Gatou?"

Han wasn't sure that they knew of Gatou as well as they probably should, despite the fact that he stayed in their village and did some business there, but apparently they did. "I've worked with his shipping company before," he explained truthfully, meeting her focused gaze. It was a little bit too focused, in actuality, because he was starting to get a little uncomfortable.

"Where did you meet him?"

This was the question that would make him or break him, but it was necessary how he answered this. The truth was that it had been in Iwagakure, but should he say that? Would that connect him to the village too easily, easily enough to verify? Finally, the idea hit his mind.

"Small village that you probably haven't heard of," he said, hoping the woman would get off of this subject. When she finally nodded, he felt in the all clear for once.

* * *

Naruto felt the clone dispel, immediately revealing what had happened with Gatou. He'd gotten lucky, he supposed, that Takigakure had rounded them all up, because Naruto had a rock solid alibi. The man and his bodyguard would be found freshly dead on the street, a forced overdose on drugs the clone had found in his apartment and injected. It had been stupidly easy to do it, and he didn't even feel the least bit of guilt. He was proud his clone had the initiative and the improvisation to take care of it; if there was anything he was good at, it was planning on the spot.

What was more interesting was the confirmation that Gatou had been working with Suien, because the man seemed to have been freaking out over seeing that he had been taken into custody. Naruto could have allowed the man to go free and to implicate Gatou with Suien, and allow Taki to arrest him and bring him to justice that way.

But Naruto didn't care about their justice; he wanted to impose his own. And he supposed it was understandable, given that connecting Gatou to Suien would also connect their group to Suien, and make it seem even more unbelievable that they would have this knowledge.

Midori seemed to stare at him more intently, her eyes flashing. "I'm glad I came to you last, because the details from the others will confirm or deny your story. Briefly tell me everything you know about what you heard and described in your letter."

He went through the motions, telling the who, what, when, where, and why of his fabrication. He touched on everything he could remember from Team Seven's mission to stop Suien from stealing Taki's Hero Water, told through the perspective of overhearing the conversation with Suien's allies from Amegakure. He wished he could remember what their names were or even what the three of them had looked like, but all he could remember was a girl with light brown hair using a water whip.

Midori listened intently, writing notes without ever leaving his face. He tried to play up the angle that he was just a kid, that he wouldn't have understood anything more than knowing that Suien was going to betray the village by stealing something that would make him ten times stronger. He tried not to worry about the others and their testimony, because they were all children. Probably Han's was the only one they would take seriously because of how much older he was. Or appeared to be, at any rate.

"Thank you," the woman said after he was finished. "I've got to take care of a few more things, but I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Will we be free to go, Midori-san?" asked Naruto innocently.

She gave him a smile. "Most likely."

* * *

Midori stepped into the next room, escorted by two shinobi on either side of her. The jonin under suspicion had bruises covering his face, metallic bindings holding him in place. He looked like he was barely conscious, and she was already pulling up her sleeves in preparation.

"You're wasting your time, Midori-san. Don't you have some real criminals to torture?" Suien declared, spitting hard at her feet, blood running down his chin as his head barely had enough power to remain standing.

"Real criminals? I just questioned four people, and you know my reputation," the woman said with a sick grin. "They were just kids and seemed genuine, which is more than I can say for you." She raised a hand to his cheek, gripping it loosely before tightening, hard enough that the man winced. "After all, your actions today when you resisted arrest already proved it. They confirmed that you were plotting against Takigakure." She slapped him in the face hard, before roughly untying his headband from around his neck. "Shimusa-sama should have you publicly hanged, as a show of fear for those who plot against the village and disrespect us!" The hitai-ate fell to the floor, clattering against the tiles.

The man spat again, looking up carefully to meet her eyes. "But he's not as cold as you are, Midori-san."

She grinned. "No, you're right. The old man's soft. I have to admit, from my perspective, I guess it's a good thing that you were training Shibuki. Perhaps your moral caliber transferred to your student, so he'll punish criminals in the ways his father won't when he takes over." She slapped him again as hard as she could, just for good measure, before preparing to go into another line of her brand of questioning to understand his plan and motivations.

She never saw Suien smile as he bit down as hard as he could, his mouth foaming over as the cyanide pill almost instantly killed him.


	11. Impending Challenges

Naruto watched as another person came by and looked at the wares, a small older woman, who inexplicably took a look at the weapons display and bought a knife with a curved blade and a detaching handle, as well as a set of other attachments that could be added to the handle. It was one of Han's more interesting prospects, but it didn't seem practical to him. Usually a simple kunai did its job.

When the lady left with her multi-purpose tool, he turned to the teenager. "Wouldn't you make more money if you sold that steam engine design?"

The normally quiet jinchuuriki shook his head after a long moment. "That was one of the first things Gatou ever bought, but no one else was ever able to build one like mine. It's probably because it was initially powered by my chakra." He gestured to his stomach, where the Gobi lay. "They can't figure it out."

Naruto shook away the memory of the  **Jouki: Rasengan (Steam Release: Spiraling Sphere),** borrowed from when a portion of the Gobi's chakra resided in his seal during the final fight of the Fourth Shinobi World War. He thought instead of Gatou, who had been found dead next to his bodyguard several weeks ago due to what appeared to be a drug overdose. Naruto's clone had forced that outcome, of course, but thanks to their group's help with capturing Suien, they had not been connected to any kind of investigation.

"Hey!" someone shouted, a familiar voice appearing from around the bend. Han and Naruto looked up to see a sweaty Karin and Gaara approaching, the summer heat and humidity bearing down on them. In the girl's hand was a brochure of some kind.

His heart jumped, and his mind whirred. Karin and Gaara were supposed to be trying to find information about Fuu's whereabouts if they could, or any relevant information about the village that could apply to her. Any sensory skills they all possessed couldn't locate her, so they had to track her down the old-fashioned way. They, and Naruto's clones, had been searching for weeks by asking the villagers but no one seemed to know where to find her. Only that they saw her very infrequently, and no one would speak about the fact that she was a jinchuuriki.

Naruto took it from the redhead's hands and studied it, seeing something advertised as the Trials. It had a location and a date, set only two weeks away at the very start of August. "What is this?"

"Shibuki-san shared it with me," Karin explained, earning a nod from Naruto. "He seemed excited about it, and said it was something that happened every year. He wouldn't tell me what it was all about though."

"But I think it's where we'll find the jinchuuriki," Gaara explained, and Naruto raised an eyebrow, studying the page once more.

"Oh? Why do you think that?" He was glad that some of the things he was passing along were sticking in their minds, because if they had discovered some hidden meaning in this brochure to point them toward Fuu, then they were paying attention to what was 'underneath the underneath'.

"Read the passage on the inside flap, near the bottom under the picture of the location."

Karin grinned. "Count the stars too! There are seven of them surrounding the Trials, for the Nanabi!"

Naruto opened it up again and read it carefully aloud. "See if her supposed 'luck' will finally run out."  _The Lucky Number Seven, Chomei..._ He smiled at the three people before them. "If this is true, then we have two weeks to find her."

He tried hard not to rip the brochure in half when he finally understood what it meant. The Trials were some kind of horrible test, and from the sound of it, the audience were all betting against her. The village was probably torturing her, forcing her to fight to the death for all to see, and everything was so, so wrong.

"What do you mean?" asked Karin.

"I'm not letting her go through this again, so we're going to get her out of there."

* * *

Over the past several weeks, Gaara supposed he  _had_  to be getting better at this, much to the chagrin of his body's tenant. The last time he pulled himself into the mindscape, it only lasted a few seconds. He wondered if it was more difficult to deal with because of the Ichibi's emotional state, but considering that the monster was always a myriad of inexplicable, but negative emotions, he wasn't sure that theory panned out.

Sometimes he could go for several minutes, but most of the time, he couldn't get it to work at all. "Communication is the key to a successful partnership with the Bijuu, and Shukaku is no exception," Naruto had reminded him only minutes ago for the umpteenth time.

The desert landscape stretched seemingly endlessly before him, even greater than the most desolate locations within Kaze no Kuni. The unforgiving sun passed overhead, but it felt warm on his skin. The spiraling storm still raged in the center of the vast desert, a wall of impressive rain and a moat of water holding the giant tanuki inside.

Gaara supposed that the area outside of the rainstorm was the representation of his own chakra. If that was the case, he felt lonelier than he ever had before just thinking about it, staring at the empty expanse of rolling dunes. He tried to push that feeling out of his mind, but it was much more difficult than that. He had to physically remind himself that he had Han, and Karin, and Naruto. And if everything worked out, he would have Fuu and the other jinchuuriki soon.

After the better part of a year, he and Naruto had already gained two companions. Based on the old timeline Naruto had described, the Akatsuki had not begun gathering the jinchuuriki for another four and a half to five years, give or take. Gaara wondered how reliable that could be, given how many changes Naruto had made already. Would they tip off the Akatsuki and force action sooner, or would their group remain a secret long enough to gather them all?

"Why the fuck are you bothering me again?" the creature asked, his voice calm but with quite a bit of untapped rage hiding under the surface. The Bijuu's skin seemed to rustle underneath the surface, the blue lines darting along its sandy body and changing the shape.

"I would never bother you intentionally," Gaara said, although the small playful part of him was enjoying the fact that he was upsetting Shukaku.

"Bullshit." The creature rolled his eyes and flicked his tail, slamming it into his prison. Like before, the rain solidified to block the tail that immediately began to turn to glass. Shukaku roared in pain at the superheating rain and just grew more angry, and Gaara didn't stop himself from flinching. He didn't know if it was because of seeing him in pain, or if it was because he was scared for his life.

"This fucking cage is 'bothering me intentionally!'" The giant creature mocked. "I liked it more when I could roam the desert."

"I wish you had your freedom too," Gaara said truthfully. "I know what it's like to be in a cage." He remembered years of only being able to leave Yashamaru's home without someone escorting him.

The monster's golden eyes spun, the star in the center of them widening. "So you'll let me go!? I'm so gla-"

"No," he interrupted. "No, I can't let you roam free like before. If it means that I'll have to constantly hear your voice inside my head against my will, then you'll never be free again."

The creature just laughed. "You think this is good enough to hold me for the rest of your miserable life!?"

Gaara considered it a moment, remembering the specifics of this kind of seal. "Yes. I do. Because Naruto designed it."

Shukaku roared lightly. "You mean the future bastard!? I'll fucking kill him!" A wave of chakra extended even beyond his rainy prison, and Gaara was pushed from the seal, an odd feeling washing over him.

He opened his eyes from the meditative pose, legs crossed with his fists pressed together at the base of his chest, and found Naruto sitting across from him on the training field overlooking one of the small canals that run through the village, leading toward the great lake. The blonde was looking over several scrolls and making notes, still working on Han's seal.

Speaking of Han, he peeked over to see the tall jinchuuriki evading Karin's clumsy movements, which had not improved a great deal after their weeks of practice. The girl tried to move into a kick, but Han stepped away from it and into her personal space, and he didn't even have to touch her to force the redhead to fall to the ground on her backside.

"You don't have a definable stance, and that kick left far too wide an opening," he explained simply.

Gaara didn't know what to say to her; she had improved the least during their physical training. Week after week, Naruto and mostly Han gave her intricate critiques, but she was not visibly improving. Naruto said she'd gotten faster if nothing else, but that wasn't going to protect herself if it came down to it. The focus of her training was on chakra chains, and even that was slow-moving.

He supposed he didn't have much of a leg to stand on to judge her. While he had regained most of the control he had had after Naruto's new seal, it was the reaction time and reflexes that had waned the most. No longer did the sand move up automatically to protect him, so he would have to find some way to regain that at some point.

"Oh, Gaara," Naruto suddenly said, looking up. "Did it work or have you been here the whole time?"

The Suna native frowned at his question. Had Naruto been paying any attention to him? The blonde was supposed to have been giving him lessons on communication and making contact with the jinchuuriki. While it  _was_  a solitary activity, he still expected that the boy would pay attention to him and not get so preoccupied.

"It worked, but he's not happy. Said he was going to try to kill you."

Naruto merely laughed. "I bet so. I guess he's angry that there's a chakra construct of me in there somewhere. I bet he tries to prank Shukaku while you aren't around." The blonde grinned, and Gaara just laughed.

His eyes followed Karin's movements, but he was still talking to the other jinchuuriki. "Why  _is_  there a construct of you in there? And why does it look like... older you?"

His expression grew dark for a couple moments. "I didn't know it would do that, but I guess you're looking at what my middle-aged chakra looked like. Or will look like." He frowned deeper. "Whatever. My chakra will act like a buffer in case the seal starts to break down."

 _A buffer...?_  A chakra fail-safe written into the seal. He didn't know anything about fuuinjutsu beyond what Naruto has taught him, but it sounded advanced.

Gaara had yet to get the chakra-version of Naruto to appear inside the seal again, no matter how much he tried. He knew the time had not yet come for when he was ready, like it had said, but he had lots of questions about the future. And the real Naruto wasn't going to answer them.

"Are you going to tell them?" he asked suddenly, reminded that neither Karin nor Han knew the huge secret Naruto was hiding. "I only ask because I'm curious. You do what you think is right, not what I say."

The other jinchuuriki sighed. "I really should, shouldn't I?" Gaara merely shrugged.

Secrets were a necessity in the shinobi world. That much had been drilled into his head from day one, from every teacher he had ever had. Naruto, Yashamaru, his father, and even his siblings. But secrets also carried weight, especially secrets kept from friends and comrades.

But he wasn't going to judge Naruto's decision not to tell them yet; he trusted the other boy too much for that. Maybe it might have been smarter to voice his actual opinion, but there was some part of him that wanted to believe it was all okay. That it didn't matter if Naruto ever told the secret to anyone else. In some ways, Gaara was glad he was the only person Naruto trusted with it.

The redhead supposed it reminded the other boy of the old timeline. One of the sparse details he was given was that Gaara and the Hachibi jinchuuriki had been the only jinchuuriki he ever knew, and that he had been one Naruto's closest friends and confidants for years. Perhaps Naruto was guided by some nostalgic reason to only trust him with the secret.

"Again, I don't think it matters whether you tell them or not," he explained. "At least not yet."

Naruto looked at the other two, still running drills. Neither Karin nor Gaara had been able to hit Han more than a few times, and only Naruto seemed to be a match for him. The tall jinchuuriki was easily better at taijutsu than Naruto was, but that might have had to do with the limitations of Naruto's body rather than the actual skill level. After all, the kid's muscles were only nearly seven years old, no matter how old his mind was.

"When we get Fuu, I'll explain it to all of you."

* * *

Karin paced back and forth outside the flower shop, curious as to how this was going to actually work. Across the street was a library; she didn't really like to read, but Shibuki did and that was the point of this talk. A nervous flick of her hand brushed away any dirt on her gray shirt.

They had ten days before the Trials, and no one in their group had been able to figure out what they actually were beyond some sparse details. So she had a mission of sorts, and in a way, it might even be fun. She gripped the brochure in her hand, wanting to use this as a point of reference.

When the brunette boy entered the library with a small bow to the lady at the desk, the door closed and the nerves were getting to her. During their stay in Takigakure, Karin had made an interesting friendship with the village leader's son. If it had been anyone else, she might not have been very nervous. But he was in a position of power and she was starting to feel odd.

She knew the importance of making their group seem aloof, but settled. Thanks to Han's trade, they were able to secure some kind of trust in the eyes of the important people of the village. She was still worried she would sprout some small detail that would jeopardize everything they were working toward.

Karin finally stepped off the curb and walked across the street, passing in front of a horse-drawn cart carrying fruit, before entering the library. She bowed to the lady, trying to ignore the dusty smell of old paper.

"Can I help you with anything, little one?" the lady asked as the door shut.

Karin glanced around, catching Shibuki in the corner of her eye. If she said it loud enough, the boy would surely notice. "Yes. I was wondering if you had any records of the Trials? I'm so excited for them." Displaying the brochure, the lady seemed to understand.

"I am too. I missed last year's event, but I have my tickets this year. But I don't have any information for you," she explained. "That kind of information would probably be hidden away somewhere in a more high-profile library."

So Naruto was right. A civilian library wouldn't have what they needed. The Uzumaki glanced over to see Shibuki still filing through some interesting scrolls and books in the fiction section; he must not have heard her.

"Thanks anyway," Karin said, before turning to scour the shelves herself. No book in the store seemed remotely interesting, but she made a show of looking for Shibuki's sake. The nervous pit in her stomach had not receded at all.

"Karin!" She glanced over to see the brunette boy walking over, surprised to see her. She smiled at seeing him. "It's good to see you again."

The girl nodded and made a show of displaying the brochure that he had given her. "Likewise."

"Why are you carrying that around?"

 _The moment of truth..._ "Well, I'm trying to learn more about it. My friend Han is really interested in it."

"Really? Is he a shinobi?"

She furrowed her brow, meeting his eyes. "No, but he's trained, if that's what you mean? He's a struggling merchant. I don't think you've met him."

He seemed to dawn with realization. "Oh, right. That's who you're living with." She nodded. "Do you think he'd be interested in fighting?"

 _Fighting?_  She turned away slightly, staring down at the paper. "What do you mean?"

"This year's Trials are looking for volunteers, but not many people ever volunteer," he explained, an odd look on his face. "My dad's having to conscript some of the shinobi into fighting, but we have a couple others who have a death wish." The boy lightly chuckled, confusing her.

She looked at him, puzzled. "A death wish? What exactly is going on there?"

He glanced around for a moment, as though looking at anyone who might be listening. "The Trials are a series of fighting matches against someone important. It's forbidden to tell you who that person is, but that doesn't matter. It's important to our village's culture."

She stared down at the paper, realizing what all of that meant.  _They have a culture of entertaining the citizens with death matches against their jinchuuriki?_

"Heh, it was probably stupid to ask you if Han would be interested. He's probably not qualified to fight against her, and it would be stupid to send him to die."

A dark idea ran across her mind, but if anything, it _had_  to work. It might be the only opportunity they have. "He's in. Sign him up."

* * *

The tall teenager slid the pack onto his back, testing its weight and versatility of movement. He leaned in every direction, and mentally noted he needed to make it smaller on the right side, because he couldn't reach backward without it pinching his skin, even through the clothing.

Sliding it off of his back, he studied the components and shifted them around, curious if it would work. Pressing his thumb into a small slot, he pulled chakra from his gut and into the slot, watching the tank of water mix and bubble. The heat was palpable through the air, and steam suddenly engulfed his face. He shot backward, feeling lightly burned around his eyes.

"Having trouble?" asked the voice of Naruto from the doorway.

He tried to ignore the pain of the heated air, remembering to write down that he needed to find a way to redirect the steam, as well as cycle the water. "A little bit, but I'm getting closer to figuring it out."

He met the blonde's gaze and felt odd once more, a pit in his stomach spreading. Ever since Gatou's death, he couldn't look at Naruto the same way again. It was inexplicable, and unjustifiable, but he couldn't get the idea out of his head. He was suspicious of the boy's potential involvement in Gatou's death.

Han knew the official report. Gatou and his bodyguard overdosed. He supposed it didn't make any sense to assume Naruto had some hand in it, but on some instinctual level, he felt odd around him.

Logically, he pushed it out of his mind and didn't let it bother him. There was no way the boy had something to do with it. He didn't have it in him. He knew Gatou had been a drug addict, a long-time opium sufferer. Chances are, he was stupid for even considering it.

But still, the fear remained.

"We've got good news," Naruto said, as Karin walked into the room from her adjoining hotel room. Gaara peeked his head out of the bathroom, a sandy towel draped off of his head.

"We have a plan to get to Fuu!" the little redhead said with a bright smile. Han locked eyes with Naruto and saw the mischievous smirk on his face.

* * *

She sighed as she picked through her meager helpings, hating the village even more. The Trials were coming, days away now.

Fuu knew it was hopeless to assume she would be out of the village any time soon, thanks to Suien's ridiculous suicide. She couldn't imagine that the Taki shinobi would be stupid enough not to check for pills, when they took every precaution imaginable to ensure she wouldn't get out under any circumstance. An altitude-sensing seal around her neck, bars on the windows, impossibly dark hallways, and a probably simple locking seal on the other side of the door.

She sipped water from the canteen, trying to ignore her depression and focusing on rage. If she worked hard, harder than ever before, maybe she would get the chance to actually be free, as per the Trials' rules. But she squandered that hope very quickly. Her performance didn't matter; these Trials were the village's entertainment. Even if she somehow succeeded, they would merely make her an active shinobi and all of Takigakure would become her prison. Fuu would be forced to follow her village's role and support them on missions, and she would never get the chance to escape.

The jinchuuriki rubbed her fingers along the plate, gripping the fork carefully. Her eyes flickered to the small crack in the door where they dropped her meals. She hadn't been given a new handler after Suien, so she hadn't had any real human contact in months.

Fuu withdrew into herself more and more, the tension gathering on her shoulders so painfully that she forced herself onto her feet, stretching carefully to test her flexibility. When she flipped completely backwards, kicking off of the wall itself, she spun in mid-air and landed carefully next to the cot. These agility tests were necessary, even in the small room.

She almost begged for a mission, if only to see the outside of the cell. They wouldn't let her train in a more open space without a handler, so she only had sparse moments to check that her physicality still remained. She forced herself to exercise, to perform as many drills as she could, only to give herself a fighting chance.

But they didn't care. They were setting her up to fail, to get knocked around like a rag doll and barely survive, only to repeat the next year for the whole village to see. They told her it was to toughen her up for official missions, but she hadn't had any of those in a long time, even when Suien was alive.

The Trials were supposed to be her ticket out of the village, but that wouldn't happen now. Suien's team wouldn't be able to find her, and without him, she couldn't imagine they were even coming in the first place.

Fuu had no choice. She dropped to the ground and alternated one-handed push-ups, forcing her body to move in perfect harmony with her heartbeat. Her speed was what she prided the most, but her body had plenty of power behind it as well. Getting herself into prime physical condition was all she could do.

Nearly half an hour later, there was a slight knock on the door. The sound was confusing to her addled mind, and she panted lightly as she caught her breath. A short female chunin opened the door and made the mistake of passing the threshold.

Fuu was on her feet in no more than a second, bounding across the room with only one large footstep, her hand against the woman's throat and throwing her against the wall hard. A fist collided with her stomach, leaving the woman breathless.

"What... the hell?!"

"Don't approach me without my permission," she explained carefully, dropping the woman. She clambered to her feet and slid past the open door, before turning around with a vindictive expression on her face.

"I was going to tell you some information you'll want to know, but I think you don't deserve to have it now," the chunin explained snidely.

Fuu just laughed callously. "I suppose you don't have to do what you're told to do when it comes to me, right?"

The woman twisted her lip in disgust. "Try not to die." And with that, the woman left.

"Don't worry; the village won't let me actually die."

* * *

"Shouldn't I be preparing for the Trials?" asked Han simply.

Naruto glanced around the underground room Gaara had created out of the sand, and smiled at how easily it had come to him this time. The room carried much more detail than before, and was larger and deeper into the ground. Naruto inspected the non-detection seal lining the room, fixed on the small crystalline charm sitting on an altar. Their emergency provisions were here, stored in a scroll, as well as other various items. Most of their day-to-day supplies were still in the inn, somewhere far above them.

"No, this is necessary," Naruto said, thinking about Han's question. The Trials were very soon, but they had an interesting predicament.

It all seemed to make so much more sense when the details fell into place. Iwagakure had wanted to sever the connection Han had with his mother in order to get him to submit to the Gobi's power and use it effortlessly. Instinctively. Because Han had admitted only weeks ago that he could only draw on a sliver of the Bijuu's power.

"Why is that?" the other jinchuuriki asked.

"Because I suspect Fuu has much more control over the Bijuu than you do," he explained. "And chances are, she might rely on it to win. And I don't want you to die, so I'm going to fix your seal."

Han stared at him. "Really? What if something goes wrong?"

"It won't," he explained. "When I repaired Gaara's seal, I learned how to make it work for all of you. The difference is the amount of power, but I've worked on it consistently for months. I should have it calibrated right."

Naruto was hoping he would accept it. Even if something went wrong, he already had a paper with a chakra suppression seal ready to hold it back long enough to work.

When Han finally nodded. "If you think it will help me fight her, do it."

Naruto nodded, instantly creating several shadow clones. They began tracing the necessary seals all along the room, almost the same as they did for Gaara. Han stood in the center of the sand-created room, shirt off and ready.

"Are you nervous?" he asked.

The taller jinchuuriki nodded. "I can't help it, but I'll get over it."

When all the necessary precautions had been taken, Naruto took several deep breaths. Glad that he was the only one present this time, with Gaara and Karin far above them waiting in the wings, he felt he could concentrate better knowing they were safe. Last time, the sand had reacted to the chakra shift, nearly flooding the room. Thankfully, that would happen this time.

Whirling through hand-seals with trained proficiency, he ended in the ram seal before slamming his thumb on the primer seals.  **"Uzumaki Hakke no Fuuin Shiki: Gobi Shuusei (Uzumaki Eight Trigrams Sealing Style: Five-Tailed Beast Modification)!"**

The sealing array suddenly exploded with blue light, trailing along the seals and condensing under the spiral, gathering in a glowing circle under Han's feet. Just like Gaara's seal, the bright blue ink began to crawl up the body of the teenager, glowing underneath the dark pants, until it extended beyond the fabric and wrapped around his hips.

The jinchuuriki before him was more tempered than Gaara, wincing from the pain, and reached backward to touch his back, where the seals had gathered in the center of the space between his shoulder-blades. The air seemed to heat with the force of the chakra, an odd humidity sticking to every surface.

Naruto walked around carefully to observe his back, as the old invisible seal was stripped away. It condensed again and traveled back to Han's naval, where it spiraled out. He tore at his skin, his face contorted in a kind of silent pain, and he suddenly looked up at Naruto with an intensity he didn't expect.

"Why did you do this to me!?"

The blonde backed away slightly, prepared for the worst, as an uncharacteristic anger gathered in his expression. When the eyes suddenly shifted, becoming bright blue with an odd orange outline underneath it, he pulled the suppression seal from his belt and prepared to use it.

The ink condensed into its shape, still glowing with bright blue light. The seal had the general shape of Naruto's, and like the Ichibi version of the seal, had a magatama in the center of the seal. Unlike the other two, this seal also had four more magatama, all gathered directly in the center to form a diamond shape.

As soon as the glowing subsided, Naruto's fears that the Gobi would escape were crushed. The eye effect of the Bijuu's chakra disappeared as Han lost consciousness, falling to the ground.

* * *

Han pushed himself up, feeling refreshed, but with a phantom pain running along his stomach. He looked down to see the new seal on his bare skin.  _Naruto succeeded..._

He glanced around, realizing that he had no idea where he was. A cave filled with what looked like steel stalactites, glinting in the light that didn't come from anywhere in particular. The air was oddly dry for a cave, and for a moment, he wondered if Gaara somehow knew how to sprout metal now to add to their hidden cavern.

But the loud sound of something rustling finally got his attention. He flipped around and immediately gasped.

The Gobi stood between four stone pillars, each decorated with a spiral not unlike the one on his navel. It was forced down on the ground by a steel arch that held it tight against the ground, not letting it escape. This was the first time he had seen the Gobi beyond pictures, and its odd amalgam shape was interesting. It had the body of a horse, but seemed to have the snout and general characteristics of a dolphin. It let out an odd squeak, but when its orange-ringed blue eyes finally noticed him, it struggled more.

"I feel like I've been here forever, even if it's been seconds for you, but I haven't gotten it to say anything." The voice was strikingly familiar, but a small bit deeper. Was the Gobi speaking?

Han whirled around to the source, a blonde man about a head shorter than he was, wearing what looked like the Konoha ANBU uniform over his body, but the stranger's hitai-ate was blank. He had piercing blue eyes and what seemed to be whisker marks on his cheeks, and his aura screamed of annoyance.

"Who are you?"

"Isn't it obvious?" the man said. "C'mon, isn't there a younger version of me running around outside this seal?" Han's eyes widened, just as the man's did. "Well, I don't know if I was supposed to say that or not."

Han's mind whirred. "Naruto?"

"Bingo, kid," the middle-aged man explained.

"What's going on? What are you doing here?"

The man merely sighed. "Eh, you probably should get the answers from him, not me. But I'm here to help  _you_  control  _that_." He stuck out a thumb at the Gobi. "That's probably going to be hard since it won't talk."

Han stared the great beast before him, and the expression on its face was clearly one of rage. He approached it carefully, walking forward and stopping at the space right above it. The Gobi rolled its head around and breathed hard, before looking away. It didn't look remotely comfortable in that position, considering the shape of its legs.

"You think I could let it stand up?"

The older Naruto walked forward to join Han, rubbing his chin. "Maybe, but I wouldn't try it now. Too complicated."

He didn't reply and just stared in the creature's angry eyes. He could see that it had a lot to say, and it was anything but calm. "I... I don't even know where to begin. I'm not sure if I should be mad at you, or mad at the world that caused this to happen. I am glad to see you face to face, if nothing else." He looked at the uncomfortable legs of the giant creature. "I'll try to fix this so you can move more freely. I just can't do it yet."

The Gobi didn't say anything at all, but the rate of its breathing spiked. Han imagined that it was filled with indignation at the idea of its jinchuuriki controlling it like that.

* * *

Naruto watched as Han awoke from the quick seal, looking around the hotel room at each of them. Karin looked worried, unsure of what he would say. Naruto felt like he himself was on pins and needles, worried as to how the jinchuuriki's first real meeting with his Bijuu went. And how he would react to the chakra fail-safe version of Naruto.

"How long was I out?" he finally asked after a moment of hesitation.

"Two days," Naruto answered. "How are you feeling?"

Han glanced downward at his shirtless torso, generating chakra quickly enough to reveal the odd seal. "Just a little light-headed."

"What was the Gobi like?!" Karin asked, oddly excited.

Han breathed deeply. "Quiet. I think it refused to talk to me, so probably not a good sign."

The redhead from Suna glanced at Naruto, and then back to Han. "How are you going to bond with the Bijuu if it won't talk to you?"

"I don't know," he finally said. "But that's why Naruto's here, right?" He gave a light smile that cut through the odd tension in the room, but Naruto wondered if that was just something he was imagining.

"Heh, yeah. Did you see an older version of me in there?" he asked, cutting to the chase. Gaara met his eyes and Karin looked on with confusion. "He was pretty good-looking, huh?"

Han just laughed. "I don't know about that. He said to ask you about how that happened."

"It's a chakra buffer," explained Gaara, cutting in before Naruto could say it. "Naruto placed a bit of his chakra in the seal to help you control it when you're ready."

The blonde just smiled, but he was very aware that he was teetering on the edge of a cliff. If he took a figurative step back, he could prolong the time travel explanation. But if he leaped over the edge of the cliff, he could tumble to his doom.

"Yeah, he's right. I made it look like what I want to look like when I'm older!" He didn't meet Gaara's eyes, grinning and trying to keep up the charade of being young. "Wasn't I cool?!"

For now, that was easier, and he felt almost comforted by the lie. He wasn't sure if Han could see through it or not, but he was starting to think the other jinchuuriki was wising up to the secret.

Han merely nodded lightly, seeming to accept that explanation. After another moment, he stood up from the bed and took a deep breath, before glancing at the three children. "So what next?"

"We need to get you ready for the Trials," Naruto explained. "We can't have you die fighting the jinchuuriki, now can we?"


	12. Trials and Tribulations

The line of civilians and shinobi alike was ridiculously long, disgruntled Chunin and even a few seasoned Genin ushering them all toward the site of the event. Naruto glanced around, wishing that Han was with them so he could give the taller shinobi last minute advice for how to fight her, and how to gain her trust. He suspected that it wouldn't need much convincing: the small amount of memories he had from sharing Chomei's chakra revealed her upbringing had been so isolated that any kind of positive contact might be enough. Their tall jinchuuriki friend might have to handle that initial part on his own.

"I'm really nervous," Karin declared, her quivering eyes hidden behind her glasses. "What if he loses?"

Gaara answered for him, but the words were lost on him as an old man locked eyes with him, alongside another woman with blonder hair than a Yamanaka. Naruto nodded once to them, and they blended into the crowd like they had been commanded, following their other brethren.

"He won't lose as long as I am around."

They passed through the lakeside village, eventually curving toward a path through the woods he had investigated several weeks ago through a clone. That was troubling, because he had followed the pathway to its fullest extent, and there was no suitable location for an arena or a stage of some kind for this event to happen. They must hide the actual route very well, behind genjutsu or maybe unawareness seals; sealing awareness of objects was an incredibly complex seal that he hadn't mastered for even small objects, much less a huge pathway. He doubted they would have the finesse for that.

His musings ended when the line slowed considerably, revealing that they were being led single file through a tunnel disguised behind a huge wall of ferns and rock that clearly were fake. He shook his head, turning to Karin. "Can you sense anything behind that point?"

The redhead concentrated, closing her eyes, but the girl shook her head. "No, and it's frustrating."

Takigakure was well-known for how secret its location was, so he supposed it made sense they would have the means to block sensory ninjutsu, even as powerful as Karin's  **Kagura Shingan (Mind's Eye of the Kagura)**. The Byakguan or perhaps even the Sharingan might not be fooled, however. He almost considered tapping into Sage Mode, even for a few seconds, to see if nature energy awareness was blocked as well, but that ability had its own problems that he could not overcome right then.

The shinobi guards led them into the secret tunnels blindfolded, so dark that you couldn't see, and if not for the hand on Karin's shoulder, and Gaara's hand on his shoulder, he might not know where they actually were. "Trail us with sand." The hand tensed for a moment, enough of a signal that his almost mute whisper reached him.

"You there!"

The sound of the sudden shouting almost forced Naruto to grab for the kunai just below his waistband, but it was only through his sheer sense of self-preservation that he halted himself. The lack of sight in this tunnel was extremely dangerous, but a guard shuffled past him to grab at someone far behind them, shouting about bringing sake into the arena legally, like the nobles do.

Needless to say, the line eventually kept moving after that distraction, but as they went seemingly deeper, before suddenly angling upward at an extreme level of steepness, the time traveler couldn't help the feeling of dread forming in the pit of his stomach.

* * *

Han glanced around the setting, uncertain if he really understood what he was here to do. The plan, as far as they could figure it, was sound. But fighting another jinchuuriki was a frighteningly dangerous prospect. In the early years, he'd trained with Roshi, who had literally decades of experience on him. The veteran shinobi made use of his Bijuu's abilities in any sparring they had ever done... There was still a horrible scar around his ankle from a stray splash of lava.

But that had been so long ago, back when war was right around the corner for Tsuchi no Kuni. Tensions eventually ended, and with it, Han's training eventually slowed. He hadn't seen Roshi in years, and missions had been few and far between. Iwa hadn't had the need to call on them.

He followed the chunin into the next room and was surprised to see only four others waiting on the events to start. He surmised that these were the fighters, the ones who were going to fight in a series of deadly matches against Fuu. Only one of them actually looked like they might be a worthwhile fighter, and he was the only confident one too. His armor looked to be in good shape, a sword on his back and one on his side, and the smug look on his face suggested that he could probably back up his claims.

The other three were all relatively worse for wear. One was a brunette girl who had to be only two or three years younger than he was, but she had all the muscle mass of a medic and the kunai pouch on her looked out of place. An older man had probably less muscle mass than she did, but perhaps he had some kind of veteran experience to fall back on. The last person in the room was a middle-aged man who was crying, actually crying at a time like this; he had no weapons or armor, and they looked like they just ripped him off the street.

"You look like the only other guy in here who can fight," the smug man stated as he walked over to join him. "The name is Miroku." The man offered his hand, and Han took it after a moment of hesitation.

The plan ran through his mind, uncertain if he could really go through with it. No one here looked like they wanted to be here, except for Miroku, but he pushed past those worries. "I was going to say the same thing to you. I'm Han."

Miroku laughed heartily as the two of them moved to sit on a bench in the far too large room for only five people. "Maybe I am. You don't look familiar though."

"I'm not," he said. "I've been here with my family for a few months on business. This kind of event seemed like a good way to gain some reputation."

Miroku seemed to analyze him for a moment. "Hmm, interesting. So what do you do that this kind of thing would help your rep? I mean, it's always gonna get you a good reputation if you somehow manage to kill the jinchuuriki, but how would that help your business?"

Han couldn't help his heart from racing at how the man described the events. Someone else in the room whimpered at the mention of Fuu. Eventually, he pointed to the crimson armored plating he wore on his arms and legs. His torso was armored as well, but it was not part of his steam prototype like the others. He couldn't get it to work. "I'm an inventor, and I invent things that might be useful in combat. Like this armor here."

"Well that would certainly boost your clientele! I wish you luck, Han, that you manage to live through this day. No one has yet, but I plan to be the first." Han tried not to visibly react to the notion that no one else had ever been spared by Fuu.  _What kind of girl is this? Why would Naruto want her?_

Miroku left to get himself psyched up for the upcoming event, sitting next to the doorway that presumably opened up to the arena. He started sharpening his katana, and Han forced himself to not feel intimidated. After all, it wasn't Miroku he was fighting.

* * *

Fuu forced herself to block out the sounds of the loud arena, where all of Taki gathered to watch her kick ass. Honestly, they were watching to see her get her ass kicked, but she wasn't going to let that happen. Despite the fact that she was always the one left standing, they continued to find reasons to fail her, to force her to face the same Trials again each year. It was a game to them, and a deadly situation for her.

So she was going to treat it like it was life or death. Everyone she faced in this situation was going to face her wrath, and she wouldn't stop until they were dead and she was alive. But just like last year and the year before, it wouldn't make a difference. Fuu would continue to be nothing more than a joke, a pawn that Taki could play to support its economy. They'd probably spend some of the money generated on tighter restraints for their little jinchuuriki prisoner. Hell, the civilians would probably be glad to hear it.

The temporary handler, the same female chuunin that had tried to deliver "good" news a few days ago, walked into the meager prep room, eyeing the untouched glass of water and plate of stale bread and rice. Turning her attention to Fuu, she looked as though she was almost going to smile. "It's going to begin in a few minutes."

"Any pointers?" she asked, not caring if the woman would answer or not.

"Same format as last year for the beginning," the woman explained, which was actually a tiny bit of good news, assuming it was true. At least Fuu knew what to expect to start with. She suspected that the grand finale would completely change, based on that statement, which could be a blessing or a curse.

"Don't try any funny business. After you nearly implanted a kunai in a foreign diplomat last year, the stands have been reinforced and the important nobles relocated." The chunin sounded as though she had been force-fed a script. "It wouldn't help anyway. You'd just get killed faster if you break from the plan."

Fuu turned to look toward the huge door that led to the huge arena underneath the roots of the giant tree. "You can't afford to kill me. I'm very aware of what the purpose of this is, and what my purpose in the world is. I'm not a fool. Taki stays afloat because of me."

The chunin did not refute that statement, but turned back to the hallway, before pointing to the bell on the wall. "That'll ring to signal you to leave through that door when it's time."

Fuu smiled as the idea formulated in her head. "Thank you."

The sound of her thanks forced the woman to pause and stare at her, but after another second, she seemed to shrug it off and move on. When the female chunin closed the wooden door, she faced the golden bell and reached up to it, pulling on the swinging pendulum. When it snapped away almost delightfully, all Fuu could do was smile at the continued silence and the din of the shouting citizens.

She'd go out there when she was good and ready.

* * *

Naruto, Karin, and Gaara tried to find the best location they could where they could escape quickly, but the arena was not what they expected at all. It looked as though it had been carved from the roots themselves, built directly under the lake and completely surrounded by thick, tight cords of wood. It was hard to imagine why this was safe, and why Taki even could make something large enough to house most of the village in the middle of a root system.

The Shodaime Hokage and Yamato might have had no trouble doing so, but this was still odd. Naruto's curious mind wondered how they had managed it, but he supposed machines or even certain kinds of non-Mokuton ninjutsu might have been used to make it. The walls of the arena were tightly-packed earth and brick, sometimes lined with the root systems, and apparently, it was easy to keep water from intruding from the lake.

He didn't quite want to believe it, to be perfectly honest, because it made finding an alternate route out nearly impossible. At least, what was in plain sight. If they tried, they would probably end up drowning themselves.

The strategy of using this arena was not lost on him. When you are trying to keep a girl with the ability to fly under your control, take the open sky out of the situation. He didn't know if Fuu would actually have that ability or not, but he tried to help Han prepare for it either way.

"I'm really impatient, apparently," Karin stated, cutting him out of his reverie.

"It'll start soon," Naruto assured her.

"Did you hear the announcer? They acted like they were ready to begin a few minutes ago."

"It will start soon. I don't know why you're worried."

Surveying the arena's field, several Taki shinobi amassed and seemed to be working on setting up, while also dealing with the question of why Fuu had not appeared for the first portion of the Trials already. At least it wouldn't have anything to do with a written test, thinking back to his first Chunin exams so long ago. The pageantry of these Trials was so similar to the way to the Chunin exam system worked that it was hard not to draw the comparison.

Naruto briefly weighed how easily it would be to pull a Kabuto, considering that he had clones disguised and scattered throughout the stands. Genjutsu were not impossible to him, and he knew one that might could work. But there was no way he could do it successfully and still affect the entire arena. The clones didn't have that order anyway, so telling them would prove difficult, even if he wanted to go that route.

A Yamanaka-like mental jutsu to create a hive mind between he and his clones would be brilliant, if even possible, but he knew next to nothing about how any of that worked. He put that on his brain's list of things to consider but were probably not feasible; these days, that number was very high.

Finally, even as the crowd was nearly ready to riot at the lack of what they paid for, the huge door slammed open, revealing the mint-haired jinchuuriki with a smug look on her face.

"There she is," Naruto stated, and the pressure was on. His promise to the others that she would never have to face the Trials again was clear on his mind; it would have to be changed somewhat to say that she would never have to face a  _completed_  Trials ever again. He was happy with the loophole, and if everything worked out perfectly, the girl would be free to follow her own path.

Assuming that she followed them, of course. Naruto had a feeling she wouldn't refuse: it was for everyone's best interests to follow them.

"Don't forget about the signal. Get ready to use Henge when you hear it," he said to the two redheads on his right and left. Karin held her hand up to reveal the slip of paper tucked under her pink sleeve, brushing her hair back as she did and then adjusting her glasses; Naruto smiled at his cousin's near perfect disguise of her movements. "You're learning."

Karin beamed.

* * *

The first segment was, of course, evasion practice, and she only knew that from the warning the nameless Chunin had given. Were the nobles and pathetic poor villagers prepared to evade redirected weapons if she chose to give them the opportunity? She was itching to find out if they had prepared as much as she had.

She soaked in all the attention. The limelight was enjoyable, and she was definitely prepared to give them a show. It wasn't the show they wanted. But it was the show they deserved.

The arena's stands were far removed from the ground, so much so that it had to be difficult for anyone to see. A circle of seals running along the ground of the "stage" gave each set of spectators a wide berth of nearly seventy yards, out of the range effectiveness from the jutsu she knew. And crossing that line would immediately send raiton chakra into her body.

So it was for that exact purpose that she refused to cross the line into the central portion of the arena, avoiding the seals that would be her prison. The Chunin and Jonin squad that suddenly rushed to escort her didn't seem to catch on that she wasn't going to cross the line that would activate it, and within several seconds, she just smirked. "Hello."

They didn't seem to know why she was saying that, nor did they know how to respond. Even still, the Jonin tried to touch her, to usher her forward, and she shoved away and took off, running alongside the arena's high walls. "I'll show you how to evade!"

A kunai zipped past her ear, barely cutting into it, but the pain was negligible. The sound of the crowd's sudden terror about a potential rogue jinchuuriki was so much better.

She called on the chakra deep in her gut, to test to see if they were too stupid to think she would play along without a fight. When the Nanabi's chakra cloak manifested, bubbling up from the skin of her shoulder blades, she smiled at their idiocy even as the pain wracked her body. The enjoyment of forcing the entire affair into utter ridicule was enough to keep her going, and the second that she flapped her twin wings once, Fuu was torn from the ground.

What she was doing was absolute nonsense. She had a few moments, at most, in the air before they utilized other seals to drop her from the sky. So she had to make it count.

Fuu flew high, higher than she had ever dared in the arena before, and immediately whirred hand signs. Eight of them in a row, gathered from whatever chakra she could muster in a few seconds, she angled toward the ceiling and exhaled.  **"Hiden: Rinpungakure no Jutsu (Secret: Hiding in Scale Power Jutsu!)"**

Her Bijuu's ability poured from her mouth, bits of shimmering armored scales exploding in a burst of light that might as well be fireworks to the entertained yet terrified villagers. But even as Fuu swirled through more hand signs, most of them were blinded momentarily. But the results of her Fuuton jutsu were unknown to her when she suddenly started to fall, bracing herself for what would no doubt hurt like a bitch. Her wings faded away as the seal on her neck was wrapped with pain and electricity, and she only had a second of uninhibited conscious thought as she slammed to the earth.

Everything hurt, absolutely everything. She owed her continued survival to the beast within, her muscle fibers reacting to its chakra by becoming extra dense and highly durable. But that didn't mean that things didn't hurt.

Visible electricity was next, the seals activating and tearing through her body. She screamed as her skin began to boil like ozone, and she was giving the villagers exactly what they wanted now. Fuu twisted just enough, meeting the eyes of the Jonin who had been tasked with escorting her into the circle; the glimmer of absolute shock in his eyes was enough to make her smile.

She had fallen into the circle, dust surrounding her for the briefest of moments. Some of it caught in her teeth, and as she spat, blood mixed with saliva.

Like a phantom, she forced herself to her feet, ignoring the feeling in her rattled joints, probably only held together by her tough tendons. Something wet landed on her head, and the realization brought a smile to her face.

* * *

"Whoa," Gaara stated, brushing aside his eyes.

"How did she do that? Flying! That's the coolest thing I have ever seen."

Naruto smirked at the two of them. "I'm as amazed as you are. She's strong. Very strong."

He wasn't lying, truthfully, although the last person he had seen fly reminded him of too many bad memories. Hagoromo had had good intentions, but the man should have never played favorites. The legacy of that decision forced itself through history. It would not have ended the way that it did, had he not been focused on the truth.

"How could they treat her like that though?" whispered Karin, her eyes settled on the sight of the twitching girl, already seeing severe burns across her neck and chest. "It's awful."

Naruto shook his head, as if to say, "Not here, not now. Later." The girl nodded once in understanding, but her frown did not fade.

"All right," he said, knowing that he had time to start. "I'm going to try Plan A, and it may or may not work. If it does, we will be in good shape. If it doesn't, then we probably still are in good shape."

They knew which part to the plan he was referring to was, but didn't know the specifics, and he honestly did not feel like explaining it in detail.

Closing his eyes, he pulled himself inward.

* * *

Even though the viewing room had been silent before, it was as though the silence had become a real, tangible force. Han couldn't look away, his eyes focused on the girl in the center of the arena.  _This girl is insane…_

He swallowed hard, blaming Naruto for whatever mess they were about to be in. Han wouldn't be about to fight an unstable jinchuuriki if not for his choice to join a group of kids on an impossible quest. He understood their shared plight in the system that abused them, and he owed Naruto a great debt for helping to save his mother's life.

Now, he was surrounded by soon-to-be enemies, an entire shinobi force of one of the hidden villages, in an area where he didn't know how to escape. The one in front of him was someone he was supposed to fight in order to save, and he had to somehow handle her long enough for everything to kick in.

They were in over their heads; the plan was ridiculously risky, and he couldn't believe that he was following a near seven-year-old around.

The boy was a mystery to him, because nothing made any sense around him either. He was too strong, too knowledgeable, and too mysterious to even begin to sound reasonable. Han wondered if Naruto had lost himself to the fox- it would certainly explain a lot of his impossible personality traits, and maybe even his desire to save them all.

And saving them was certainly a worthy ambition; Fuu might be insane, but it had to be from the product of this village's treatment of her. Han knew he didn't want her to suffer this way again, so he made a decision of his own accord to help save her. He wasn't doing it for Naruto anymore; he was deciding for himself, and it was clear that he needed to talk to the kid about all of this after they got out of the village.

A jonin walked into the room, his Taki headband gleaming, but his expression was of disgust. Han had no idea if it was because of Fuu or because of what they were doing to her or because of them, but he suspected it was because of the first. "We've had a change of plans."

Miroku was the first to speak. "What do you mean?"

"Originally, you were each going to fight her in sequence. Now, it's going to be all of you. At once."

Han cursed Naruto's name in silence.  _How can I turn this to my advantage?_

* * *

The blonde pushed himself off of the ground within the seal, glancing toward the giant beast behind the cage. He enjoyed these moments these days; he had fond memories of being friends with Kurama, and in an odd way, it was almost funny to see him turn back to his hateful self. It was such a stark contrast to the way he was in the future, someone who was a partner and even a friend, coming back to this now.

The fox glared and roared, as though it would work on him, and Naruto was unflinchingly uninhibited. "Why are you here?"

The boy just turned to the wall beside him, gesturing to the glowing crimson seal beside him. "Oh, just stopping through. At the end of the day, I'll have saved another of my kind, and by association, yours."

Kurama breathed heavily, in something between a sigh and a growl. "Humans and their idea that we can be saved by them. Your grand, impossible notions are pathetic."

Naruto didn't budge or even let the words affect him. "If it makes you feel any better, I'll save you too."

He turned to the wall, approaching the designated connection to Han he had established with the modification of his seal. It glowed brighter crimson, and the Kyuubi practically barked a reply about how ignorant humans are of their limits, and how they could never understand truly limitless beings such as the Bijuu. Naruto just smiled genuinely back at him and waved, before pressing his fist against the seal.

The manifestation of his mind within the Kyuubi's seal disappeared, before rematerializing inside Han's seal. He marveled at how amazing a task that was; he had successfully done it, using the chakra he retained from each of the Bijuu, and modified his seal for a connection. And then he could transfer his consciousness through them. The possibilities were endless!

"Hey, Boss," a familiar, hardened voice stated, and he glanced up to see the adult version of himself smiling down at him. "Good to see you again."

"Likewise," he stated, trying not to think too hard about seeing what he used to look like, and having a conversation with himself. It wasn't too different from clones, although he knew he couldn't touch the older Naruto. Their chakras would mix, and could destabilize the entire seal and remove any advantage they had.

"How's the Gobi? Have you been talking with it?"

The elder nodded. "Yes and no. Kokuo hasn't ever been talkative, and he sees us as the reason he is here. Which I suppose is true, in some ways, but not in others."

"Has he started to see reason?"

"I don't think so," he muttered honestly, gesturing to the sight of the white creature stuck underneath metal gates, unable to gain any sort of momentum while surrounded by cavernous columns. "But I'll keep wearing him down so Han can handle getting along with him later." The adult finally stared at the younger, real version of himself. "I have to ask; what are you doing here though? Just testing to see if the communication between seals would work?"

Naruto launched into a quick explanation about why he was here, and the other finally nodded with a somewhat dopey smile. "Not sure I understood all of that one hundred percent, but I can't see why it wouldn't work. But it's impressive you got this far. If you can't keep going, then Han or even the Gobi could take over to help." A gesture to the tailed creature forced it to cry out in anger, attempting but failing to move. "You shouldn't have to do it all alone. We went through way too much trouble to prove that."

Naruto grinned. "True. That's the reason why we're here, isn't it?"

There was a perceptible pause as the two considered the question, and they both smiled and repeated the same words they had had spoken when they started this journey:

"To make sure none of us are ever alone again."

* * *

When the fight was finally called to begin, it was all Han could do not to gasp when a kunai stabbed into the back of the skull of the old man, practically before he could even blink. The medic cried out in anguish over her grandfather, rushing over to try to help him, but when Fuu stepped into her path, she flinched and fell over, cowering and crying.

The reaction of the crowd was instantaneous, and Han wondered what the others were thinking upon seeing it. He'd prepared himself for her to be violent, to be dangerous, but seeing it happen so quickly was not what he expected at all.

"I bet he is all you had left," she declared, her words studied by the four remaining opponents. "It's your fault for getting involved in this fight, or maybe even shinobi business at all, if you are so ill-prepared to see death."

"Shut up!" the girl cried, shoving a hand into the shuriken pouch and hurling a handful in the direction of the enemy. Only one was remotely close to her target, the others too slow or lopsided, and Fuu barely raised the bloodied kunai to deflect it.

"Come on, don't be pathetic. At least  _try_  to give me a challenge," she said to no one in particular, and Han took that as his cue.

Shoving himself into action, he ran forward, analyzing her body language for some kind of response, and she jumped back on her heel to force him to pursue her. Miroku sped toward her from an angle, sword drawn, and she smirked. "That's the way to do it. Confuse me from multiple fronts. Looks like they got a couple of competent fighters this year."

Han was the first to reach her, and he attempted to barrel a fist into her abdomen, Naruto's plan heavy on his mind. However, the girl weaved out of the way with a controlled twist of her entire body, contorting almost impossibly, and then rolling across his outstretched arm and angling a kunai into his spine.

It sliced against his armor, rather than puncturing it, and it was Miroku that forced her off of him with a well-placed diagonal sword slash. She flipped backward impressively, as Han righted himself to look towards her. When she adjusted her shirt, she frowned. "Wow, one of you actually cut my clothes. That's a first this soon in the fight."

The swordsman beamed. "Good to know that we're giving you a good show." Miroku and the jinchuuriki danced together, and the former proved to be an excellent swordsman. Unfortunately, the latter was twisting and turning her body with near split-second speed, her reaction time faster than anything he had ever seen before.

_The way she moves her body... It's like she's translated the multi-directional way she moves in flight to her fighting style on the ground._

Her agility was impossible to ignore, and any movement she made was a carefully measure moment of control. It was odd to see, almost like her mind was moving in hyperdrive; what a normal person couldn't react to, she was able to do it with ease.

Miroku traded attacks with her, while Han tried to consider how he was going to move forward. If at any point she began to fly, he only had so many ways he could hit her, and at the speed she would be traveling, he doubted that he had enough precision. Fighting a flying opponent was near impossible with his skill set, but he had a few ways he might could handle it.

"C'mon, why can't I hit you already?" Miroku cried out with a frustrated frown, and she just smiled.

"I'm toying with you, you know?" Fuu kicked at the ground hard in Miroku's direction, the heel of her sandals colliding with the tip of his sword, and immediately throwing him off balance. She easily side-stepped Han's intervening grab and punched him hard on the thigh, the blow hard enough that he even felt it through the armor.

_She's relying more on the beast's chakra skills, if I can feel that punch more directly._

Han smirked, realizing he had the perfect opportunity, pulling on his own beast just enough to generate the necessary steam. Kicking outward with his knee, his blow was parried and then immediately met with a steam-powered fist to the jaw. Hot water vapor spread out around him, and he rubbed the superheated metal bracer over his left arm as she tumbled backward, completely off-centered. She angled toward the crying middle aged fighter behind her, who had not moved the entire fight, too paralyzed with fear to even try.

Wiping the blood from her lip, she set her jaw with a snap of her wrists, spat and then grinned once. "Not sure I expected anyone to hit that hard."

"You can't have all the fun, Han!" Miroku moved forward, angling a horizontal stab through the chest of the Nanabi's jinchuuriki. Han watched with terror as the girl suddenly ducked hard and maneuvered to the left, right in time for Miroku's blade to pierce the side of the middle-aged man who had been too scared to move the entire fight. Miroku himself didn't know how to react, or what to do, but the act of killing the man by accident was enough to make him pause.

"Oh god, he needs medical attention!" Miroku shouted to the stands, hoping someone would respond. He flickered his attention back to the other older man who was presumably already dead, suddenly feeling guilty for even being involved in this. "End this farce now or they will both die!"

Han didn't know what to say or what to do, and some part of him hoped Miroku's plea would be heard. But Fuu just laughed, an incredibly out of place sound that sent chills down his spine.

"You think they would stop this now? They don't care about you. Hell, it looks like you two were the only ones not conscripted into fighting me." She laughed again, making Miroku maneuver his sword down. "It's all a game for them, a way to take advantage of the darker parts of human nature to make money. It's a rush, an escape from the mundane." Her orange-brown eyes flashed with yellow, and Han immediately realized it.

He glanced toward the stands, not exactly sure where Naruto and the others were. He was almost certain of it now: Naruto and Fuu were both nothing more than vessels for their Bijuu to use to interact with the world. No one speaks like Fuu, or Naruto, at the young age they were. It was the only theory that made sense, even if Fuu had been subject to this tragedy her whole life. That would have stunted her development, not accelerated it. She was nothing more than the Nanabi in human form, and an uncomfortable feeling arose in Han's gut.

The Bijuu were just beasts, he told himself, beasts who can't die by normal means. Some called them demons, and he shifted his eyes downward, trying to understand what the Gobi really was. If it was a demonic entity, then he really was a sacrifice to contain it, and perhaps a noble one if they were demons bent on human destruction. However, what was propaganda and what was fact?

Even if he couldn't figure out what all of that meant, how was he going to actually know what to do? His life might be driven by demons, from inside and out, and nervous fear shook him to the core.

"We don't have to fight," Miroku suddenly said, shaking him from his reverie. Han met Fuu's eyes. "We could come to some sort of agreement. I mean, the civilians can't stay here forever, and neither can we. I could walk right back through that door if I wanted, and never turn back."

Fuu took him in a moment, before gesturing to the line of seals holding her within. "Go on ahead, coward. But you are just as trapped here as I am." She pointed a finger to the door. "They won't let you get more than a few dozen meters, but by all means, you can try."

The challenge had been thrown down, but Miroku didn't hesitate for long. Tightening a grip on his sword, his mood altered from fear to acceptance. "Then let's get back to business, shall we?"

Rather than allow Miroku to move first, Han took the initiative, trying to momentarily surprise Fuu with his appeared hesitation. A burst of chakra activated the mechanics of his right leg greaves, steam billowing from it and obscuring him from sight just long enough to aim a kick right at Fuu's exposed mid-drift.

However, Fuu took the attack in stride, and as soon as the attack connected, his eyes widened.  _There's absolutely no give, like kicking solid steel, and that attack should have broken ribs at the least!_

Fuu was thrown back from the force of it, and her skin showed signs of bruising. But it was a fake, because there was no way that he did any actual damage to her. She had some kind of unnatural defense, something that didn't need hand-seals. A kekkei genial?

No. It was one of the abilities granted to her by the Bijuu. It had to be. Which was even more dangerous than he could imagine. Before the fight, he thought maybe she might be less-skilled at bringing out the beast than he was. That she might show some signs of using it, like a chakra cloak. Before Roshi beat the habit out of him, Han had glowed like an exposed bonfire in the middle of a cave.

After all, when she used her wings before the fight, the chakra had bubbled out of her before coalescing into her fluttering wings. And when he punched her earlier, she had recovered quickly but hadn't gotten as much damage there either. Unfortunately for Han, she seemed able to call on its abilities at any time, either passively or actively, and his theory that she was nothing more than the Nanabi seemed even more probable.

"Damn, you kick hard. I'm surprised your foot wasn't blown off hitting me," she said with a grin. "Impressive armor."

Han merely nodded at her. "I appreciate that. You've got some impressive armor yourself." Naruto's Plan A was fresh on his mind, and he glanced down at her fist.

She smirked. "Good to see someone figured it out." Miroku decided at that moment, while she was distracted, to run forward from the side and stab through her ribs from her left side. Her eyes flicked to the oncoming attack, and Han watched, captivated, as she leaned back to dodge it, the blade raking across the skin of her upper arm. Nothing but the smallest of cuts appeared, not able to breach more than the upper skin's layer.

Three hand-seals brought a burst of gale-force wind in Miroku's direction, the apex of which manifested as a cutting blade. Han tried to run forward, to shove him out of the way with a Doton jutsu, but the swordsman had no defense for that.

The top half of his body landed twenty yards away from the other, blood spattering across the arena and the line of seals, as the medic-nin and the audience screamed.

"Maybe I spoke too soon about competence," she stated, turning toward Han. "Care to prove me wrong?"

* * *

Gaara was captivated, impressed, and worried all at the same time. Fuu was amazing, in every stretch of the imagination, but also brutal and not even remotely concerned with opponents' safety. She had mercilessly killed two of the six combatants, dodged and forced another to die, and was now seemingly matching Han blow for blow.

Gaara knew Han to be capable, but she seemed to be very, very focused. She hadn't gotten the best of him yet, but the Suna native was still worried for him. Han was the best taijutsu user he had seen in his short life, and s inventions added to his strength. But she seemed to not be affected by the attacks at all, any time he managed to connect a hit. A Fuuton ninjutsu, of a similar nature to the one that killed the kenjutsu specialist, was luckily absorbed as only a glancing blow by Han's armor, but he feared that the older jinchuurik wouldn't be able to keep up.

He glanced to the passive face of his best friend, eyes closed instead of open. Naruto's Plan A, to seemingly insert his consciousness into Fuu by using Han as a conduit, was not going to work if they couldn't connect correctly. Even so, he wished Naruto were watching to add his expert commentary to what they were seeing.

"Gaara, look!" Karin suddenly pointed, her movements and exclamation disguised as the outcry for Han trying to use Doton on her. "Why is the ground so muddy? They haven't used any Suiton ninjutsu, unless you count steam."

Gaara glanced down, focusing on the ground instead of the fight for a brief moment, and it did appear that it was becoming soggy with ruin, and was far more than water than any jutsu they might have used, even if they had. It couldn't have been the result of the fight, so what was going on?

His eyes flickered upward as the artificial light from the arena glinted on something falling toward the ground, and he immediately realized it. "Oh, that's not good."

* * *

Fuu shoved her hands through her hair for a brief instant, wishing she had a tie to hold it out of her face. It had just barely managed to obscure his hand-seals, and his Dojutsu connected, trapping her in a deep hole in the ground. Even as she stood in the hole, waiting on whatever attack he was going to launch from above rather than just flying or climing out, the ground was becoming even wetter, and it wouldn't be long now.

"Seriously?" she called as nothing seemed to happen for a moment, playing along with the seemingly new strategy. Her opponent, easily the most interesting she had ever faced in a situation like this, didn't reply to her comment; he was a thinker, not a talker, she had noticed.

When the light suddenly cut off, leaving her in a dark pit, she realized he had closed her off from the outside world, and she smiled as the earth shifted above her. Water from the soggy earth dripped down once again, mud plastering over her face, and the temperate started to rise.

The air became suddenly so humid, air flowing around her, increasing the pressure and heat inside, and it slowly became more and more difficult to breathe. The mysterious steam that seemed produced by his armor was inside the earth pit, and she didn't realize until her skin felt on fire that she had been trapped in an oven.

Even standing in a few seconds sapped her strength from her, the heat and humidity enough to drown her lungs with painful fiery heat, like being boiled alive from the inside out.

"Brilliant," she muttered, breath escaping her as she called on the Nanabi, the chakra gathering once more into a wing-like shape. Beating them hard, she stirred the steam away from her long enough to get a breath of stale, cool air, before immediately firing up from the bottom of the pit, making hand-seals once more.

Gasping for breath, despite the extra chakra, the oven-like strategy had drained her, made her too weak to recover very quickly, and when she burst out of the pit with a rising column of wind shaped like a fist, she dropped to the ground, heaving for fresh air.

Closing her eyes, a rookie mistake, she nearly flinched away when she felt something touch her tightened fist.

And then her eyes widened with shock.

* * *

Fuu had no idea where she was, or what she was doing, but something was wrong. Clouds are not normally something you can stand on, and it definitely wasn't a trick of her flight because her wings were tucked away. The sky was off-color but dark, an almost gray color, and the sun didn't seem to be out. The only source of light was the odd yellow glow sitting atop one of the clouds, high above her, like some kind of sky throne.

"Am I dead?" She remembered what had happened to her, the fight with the armored giant. The oven move had probably literally cooked her alive, but she supposed she had not expected to see the underworld look so... serene. At least, not for her and what she had done.

"Not yet. Not for a long time if I can help it," a voice suddenly stated, and she whirled around to see a blond boy, a few years younger than her, with bright blue eyes and an almost cheery air about him. He seemed deadly serious, despite the odd marks on his cheeks that looked really hilarious. His hair contrasted poorly with his dark clothing.

"What is this?"

The boy raised an eyebrow. "Hmmm. Haven't you ever been to your seal's mindscape before?" He took a moment, confused. "Actually, that probably makes sense. Minato did make my seal different."

_What the hell?_

"Sorry, you probably don't know anything then," the boy stated, turning to the cloud-like throne. "My name is Naruto, and that guy you were fighting?that was my friend Han. You're Fuu, right?"

"How do you know my name?" Who was this freaky kid?

"I know a lot about you, and it is a really long story as to why I do. I promise to discuss the particulars with you at a later time, but that's not exactly important at the moment."

She furrowed her brow. "Sounds like something a stalker would say."

He laughed, an odd sound that seemed to lighten the mood immediately. "No, it's nothing like that."

"Well, then what is it like? I don't know what to think about this. What did you mean by seal?" She was itching to keep him talking, to keep him saying something, so that she could muster the chakra to attack. However, it didn't seem to be working, which was even more reason to not trust him.

"Have you ever wanted to meet the Nanabi?"

She eyed him suspiciously. "Are you telling me that you are the Bijuu? Where are you tails?"

He laughed again, before gesturing to the mass of clouds behind them. "I'm not the Nanabi. Why don't you lead us up there?"

She fought to stand exactly where she stood, awaiting answers, but her curiosity eventually won her over. She started trying to move toward it, not sure how she was going to climb it, but it didn't matter. The second that she thought it, she was suddenly there, this strange Naruto standing beside her.

Like some kind of horrific nightmare, she suddenly realized that this creature had actually invaded her nightmares plenty of times before. Sitting on top of the mass of clouds, the yellow glow illuminating the place came from its seventh tail, the three pairs of bright orange-yellow wings fluttering about behind it. Its blue-gray body was impressively large, easily taller than ten of her, and its head was shaped like some kind of helmeted beetle. The insectoid creature was seemingly trapped by some kind of icy prison, its limbs encircled by rings of pure cold, apparently too hard to break.

Upon seeing the pair of them, the creature tried to cry out and was immediately met with a shock to its neck, the icy collar charged with electricity. A cold wind seemed to blow from all directions, forcing the monster to twitch as though in pain. Subconsciously, her hand found its way to her neck, rubbing the seal that was her prison.

"You dare come here?" The monster cried out, its masculine voice in pain. "And there's two of you? What an interesting surprise!"

"Not really," Naruto stated. "I'm only here through my chakra, but she's your jinchuuriki."

The beetle growled, and an almost insectoid clicking noise accompanied it. "I know who she is. Speak for yourself, Fuu, as my warden."

Fuu was speechless, her hesitation winning over. There was too much going on now, and the acknowledgement that she was nothing more than a prison warden to another creature really struck a nerve with her.

"I'm sorry," she half-blurted, the sincere feeling beneath it making her uncomfortable.

The Nanabi did something that could only be a laugh. "You're sorry? You've never been sorry for anything in your life. I actually appreciated your methods, to be frank. Although, I'm more angry than usual with you right now, because you were going to drown with your lucky little trick. I appreciate your sense of vengeance, but I don't want to die in the process, human."

She stared at the Bijuu, not knowing what to say. Getting a compliment from something widely considered to be a demon was uncomfortable. "Well, I wasn't going to die, I was going to fly out."

Naruto cleared his throat. "What do he mean by 'drown'?"

"It doesn't matter anyway. If you're out there with your friend Han somewhere in the arena, I bet you'll die too. I'll be the only one left standing."

The Bijuu laughed again. "Those seals will still hold you in place, even if the entire place floods. You'd get electrocuted and die too."

Fuu had considered that, but she had hoped that it wouldn't matter if the sealing shinobi, the brother to the village leader, died as well.

"Well, I gave Han a counteractive seal, to block the ones used on you to keep you tied down. They won't interact with this one, which is lucky." Naruto made a pointed look to the Bijuu upon saying that word. "You should be able to escape with us."

The words did not really register with her, and in some ways, her body almost rejected the idea that they could be true. It had to be a trap; this boy was a spy, someone who wanted to gain her trust just to shoot down her hopes and dreams for again. She would end up just like the Nanabi, surrounded by an endless sky but being unable to move from his perch.

"Look, I know you have no reason to trust me," he explained. "It is really, really smart not to trust anyone you don't know.

"But in a way, you do know me and others like me in my group. You see, I'm in the same boat that you are." He looked toward the sealed Bijuu, waving a hand toward the creature. "I'm the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, and I am breaking away from the villages in order to pull all the jinchuuriki into one group that no one would ever dream of attacking. Han, the guy you are fighthing, is the Gobi jinchuuriki. And we have Gaara, the Ichibi jinchuuriki as well. You would be number four, if you chose to accompany us."

She opened her mouth to comment, but he raised his hands. "I know it's hard to trust what I am saying to you now, but we could offer you freedom. Actually, right now, Han should have applied the seal, and you already have freedom. So you can do with that what you wish. Join us, and we can offer you added protection from people who might hunt you down, like Taki." He frowned a moment, before sighing. "There's a group out there, called the Akatsuki. They are planning to come after each of us, and one of its members is from your village: Kakuzu."

She wasn't sure what to make of his offer; it sounded too good to be true, and a little bit suspicious or too good to be true. But the mention of Kakuzu, the most dangerous criminal who once survived a battle with the Shodaime Hokage, was enugh for her to believe this kid knew what he was saying. It wasn't enough to, on its own, make her trust him. _But he obviously isn't just some weird kid who can appear in people's heads and spout bullshit._

The Nanabi had been silent for a long time, but when it appeared that Naruto's message was over, it barked into that odd clicking laughter oce more. "If this human is telling the truth, then I would rather you go with him than sit around and rot in a cell. At least you would be doing something interesting. Besides, I haven't been close enough to talk with my family Ina while. Might be fun to make fun of Shukaku."

"Family?" Fuu asked incredulously.

Naruto just grinned. "Yeah, Shukaku is a pain sometimes. Kurama hates the bastard."

If it were possible to see a helmeted beetle widen its eyes, despite not having any visible body parts to do that, that's the impression Fuu got from the Nanabi's reaction.

"You're telling the truth!"


End file.
